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On February 26, the Standing Committees on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs and on Defense and Security convened a joint sitting to debate the current conclusion of the Audit Chamber regarding the results of the audit of the implementation of the nine months of the State Budget 2023 in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The sitting was moderated by the Chair of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security Andranik Kocharyan and the Chair of the Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gevorg Papoyan.

The member of the Audit Chamber Karen Karapetyan noted that for three, six, and nine months of 2023, a total of 65 inconsistencies and 22 proposals for their elimination were submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. 12 of them were fully accepted by the audit object, appropriate measures were taken to eliminate them, and 4 were not accepted, and information about 6 has not yet been submitted, because the set deadline has not completed.

The member of the Audit Chamber touched upon the contract for the purchase of cars for the needs of the patrol service. The Ministry of Internal Affairs signed a contract for the purchase of 65 cars with the relevant company in 2023.

The Secretary General of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs Ara Fidanyan, not denying the problems in the procurement process, underlined that most of them are of a technical nature and did not cause any consequences. Voicing the clarifications of the official representative of the company regarding the purchase of cars, he stated that the claim that one deviation can have negative consequences has no basis. “In the same way, I can claim that this deviation is more positive, because less fuel is consumed,” Ara Fidanyan said. The Chairman of the Audit Chamber Atom Janjughazyan reminded that the non-compliance with the requirements of the contract was recorded. Gevorg Papoyan recorded that the Audit Chamber suggests to be guided by the established criterion in similar situations.

The next issue related to the acquisition of computer tablets for the needs of water patrols. In June 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs police organized an auction in which two companies participated in order to purchase a computer tablet for the needs of water patrols.

In response to the question regarding the responsibility of specialists organizing procurement and financial processes, the Minister of Internal Affairs Vahe Ghazaryan informed that a service examination will be conducted on his instructions and there will be subsequent steps after that.

During the debate, a number of issues were raised, the procedures for organizing their purchases were addressed, and a number of issues requiring new regulations in the procurement legislation were raised.

“What is recorded as an inconsistency allows us to assume that the purchase procedure is better organized than the object is described,” Atom Janjughazyan said.

Andranik Kocharyan and Gevorg Papoyan, emphasizing such partnership debates, expressed their conviction that the shortcomings should be corrected as a result of them.