The subtext entitled the “Formation of staff and budget institutions
for the community director” in the “Local Authorities” law states that
the staff of the community director is composed of the vice-director,
secretary, departments chiefs, as well as other workers in the staff
list.
Martin Sargsyan, who is the chief of the Shengavit district, a member
of the Hayastan Hanrapetakan Kusaktsutyun (Armenian Republican Party)
and president of the Chamber of Commerce, has reduced the number of
work places in the district council. According to him, at the present,
all the departments of the council that are involved in exaction and
entrances work under the requirements of the contract. This means that
they can redeem 10% of the exaction and this makes the workers work
harder instead of sitting around drinking coffee. Martin Sargsyan has
two vice-directors even though he has the right of having only one. “I
have consulted with lawyers and they have ascertained that the law does
not go against having a second vice-director. So, I see no infringement
of law here”. Let’s not forget to mention the fact that the Shengavit
district is considered one of the districts where much attention is
drawn towards organizing celebrations, events and re-establishment of
cultural and sport centers. As for the district chief Martin Sargsyan,
he is pretty famous among the residents.
We must add that the district chief has set a resident reception day
and he was accepting and getting acquainted with the residents’
problems while we were there. In response to the statement about people
complaining that M. Sargsyan has many absences in the district council,
the district chief replied: “You saw the line of residents waiting to
consult with me. I have already had consultations with 100 people and I
still have others waiting. Sometimes the residents come up with
problems that the district can not do anything about, for example the
water meter, electric network and other issues. Basically, the people
still have the mentality that this is an executive committee and that
we must find a solution to their problems, even though we do try to
help out the residents in every way we can. Despite being part of the
supervising departments, the resident’s problem is also my problem. I
often leave the city.” Anyway, according to sources, a large sector of
the staff workers has ties with other workers. Staff secretary of the
district council and member of the Armenian Democratic Party Arbak
Abrahamyan explains this in the following way: “Why is there a law for
people doing civil services but not one for local authorities workers?
The answer to this is so we can choose workers corresponding to the
law”. Arbak Abrahamyan, taking advantage of the absence of that law
feels free in helping out his relatives at the district council. For
example, his wife Amalya Abrahamyan has been appointed the head of one
of the kindergartens of the Shengavit district.
A. Abrahamyan not only gave some details of his wife’s biography, but
also stated that the situation of the kindergarten was very serious and
that at the present the kindergarten is in a good condition thanks to
the efforts made by his wife and the district. Besides that, the
kindergarten feeds the children with 2000 calorie food.
The sister-in-law’s business
The staff secretary of the district council is Arbak Abrahamyan’s
sister-in-law. She works in the xerox section of the district council
but the thing is that that section is not enlisted in the staff list.
Besides the fact that the secretary earns 30,000 drams a month, she
still charges the customer 10-20 drams a copy. A. Abrahamyan commented
on his sister-in-law’s work: “I can only say that 70% of the residents
of Shengavit are my friends. If we go back to the time of Noah, then
you are my relative and so is the Azeri. In regard to the copying
section, yes, my sister-in-law works there. But the one thing that is
not allowed here is to make copies for residents and this is the first
time I hear about this. The xerox section is foreseen for the staff
workers of the district council.” It turns out that the 10-20 drams
charged for the service done are not transferred to the district
council’s budget. This is obviously A. Abrahamyan’s sister-in-law’s own
business. A. Abrahamyan said the following about this: “You know what?
It is a very hard job and if there even is any type of violation, in
that case I can say that I have not noticed anything. But that is not
widespread.”
The clips of the sister-in-law
A. Abrahamyan’s sister-in-law and “singer” Lusine Mkrtumyan is not a
resident of the Shengavit district. She takes money from the district
council budget from time to time in order to film some video clips for
her songs. The singer rarely comes out with her own songs. Instead, she
sings the Armenian versions of foreign songs and films video clips for
those songs with the money taken from the district council budget
thanks to her aunt’s husband and the elder of the district. Her aunt’s
husband explains Lusine’s activity: “I am not helping Lusine Mkrtumyan,
but rather, we get the money with the decision of the elder. Of course,
he is not a resident of the Shengavit district, but that doesn’t matter
because we help many in the music industry (for example, the Dramatic
Theatre).” A question comes up: “At what price is the help
organized?-money from the residents or the elders whose lights get
turned off because the 3000 pension is not enough for food?”
The $5000 dollar bargain
In March of this year, with the decision of the district alderman,
staff secretary of the district council Arbak Abrahamyan was paid
$5,000 U.S. dollars from the council’s budget. Mr. Abrahamyan needed to
go to the United States and pay for his eye operation with that money.
However, that money was spent on other things and there was no eye
operation. A. Abrahamyan tried everything to explain what had happened:
“It’s true that I have asked for permission to leave for medical
reasons and with the decision of the council, composed of 15 members, I
have been provided with $5,000 dollars. There was no eye operation;
instead I have spent the money on doing a laser eye treatment. Now I am
trying to do another job- selling products from the home so that I can
collect enough money to do an operation and remain healthy.”
The boy has a lot of nerve
This is one side of the story. A. Abrahamyan’s son is his driver and
his name is also not enlisted in the staff list. The driver
(Abrahamyan’s son) gets 50,000 dram from the district council and the
district council also pays 50,000 drams for fueling the car. The salary
and the expense for fuel make up an average of 1,200,000 drams a year.
Abkar Abrahamyan says: “All the drivers did not prove themselves and,
along with the district chief, we decided to bring in my son so that I
won’t get furious. No driver proved himself to be a good driver.”
Arbak Abrahamyan’s brother also has his special place in the staff.
True, he does not work at the district council but he is very active.
For example, he helps Arbak out with the publication of the “Shengavit”
newspaper and Arbak in turn provides him with an apartment in the
kindergarten building, which is currently not a place for residence. In
response to what his brother does at the district council, Arbak
Abrahamyan said: “He is the Minister of Foreign Affairs”.
The Shengavit district council has its own magazine and the person in
charge of that is the staff secretary A. Abrahamyan. In addition, when
“168 hours” weekly asked vice director of the district council and
member of the Armenian Democratic Party Hamlet Hakobyan how much money
is provided for the magazine, he gave a very original response: “I
don’t know how much money is spent. They give me the paper and I sign
it. I don’t like to stick my nose in other people’s business.” It turns
out that the vice director of the district council is ashamed of
getting acquainted with the council’s documents. This means, however,
that if anyone presents a document for getting money from the budget
for buying one “bag of potatoes”, Hamlet Hakobyan will surely sign it.
Let’s not forget to mention that the vice-director of the district
council Hamlet Hakobyan (whose nickname is “Charlie”) used any
opportunity he had to remind us that he had worked with Karen Seropich
and started having nostalgic memories of those times. According to A.
Abrahamyan, 2,000,000 million drams is granted from the council’s
budget for the “Shengavit” monthly newspaper for the whole year. The
newspaper is printed in order to enlighten the life in the district and
makes 1000 copies.
P.S. District chief Martin Sargsyan said the following about Arbak
Abrahamyan: “Bad rumors are not the truth. A. Abrahamyan does a lot of
work and I fully support the idea of having many more professionals
like him in the district council. That man demands order, but some
people are not used to coming to work on time. That’s why they start
saying bad things about him. As for his relatives, I have admitted them
not because they have close ties with each other, but rather for their
potential.”