There are rumors flying around that the state police department’s automobile inspection subdivision will be under the control of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. Not one police subdivision was able to give an explanation to this simply because this is only a rumor and there has been no transfer yet.
But we all know that any rumor turns into reality, after which we find out as to why the change was made. Let’s try to find out what the goal is.
The police department doesn’t give an exact number of registered cars in Armenia. The police claim that that is top secret, but what they don’t say is which law of the Armenian Constitution states that the number of cars must remain top secret. They said that they can’t tell us that either. According to the “Achiles” Drivers’ Rights Protection Center, as of January 1, 2004, there are 265,733 registered cars in Armenia. According to customs, 34,065 cars were imported during the years of 2004 and 2005. Basically, there are approximately 300,000 cars in Armenia. This number is bound to increase because based on statistics, car imports are increasing. The more cars there are, the more inspections, taxes and fees there will be. According to the secretarial office of the police department, each car inspection is 13 dollars. Drivers pay that amount and go to the police department with the receipt in their hands, after which the car is inspected for any bad auto parts. In other words, the 13 dollars transferred to the state budget is the money received for the inspection. The police officer has no right to charge the driver more money. But all drivers know that this is not true. The police officer always finds something. For example, he sees that the car tires have been driven too much. Some drivers just skip further inspection by adding a little “tip” along with the documentation. The average tip is 5000 drams, which is 10 dollars. This is why many drivers do not take good care of their cars. They say that the police officer doesn’t even check the car after they get the 10 dollar tip and just gives the inspection receipt. This means that not all the cars are inspected. Citizens can notice that when they use any form of public transportation, including minibuses and taxis. There have been times when a minibus, or a car for that matter, has stopped a couple of times due to technical difficulties. But the receipt is on the window. The head of the department takes advantage of this. Whenever the chief police officer notices any technical difficulty, he simply lets the driver go after he gets his tip. This shows us that the police officers simply bribe. Everyone is of the opinion that the traffic police office is the most corrupted subdivision of the police department.
Taking all this into consideration, we can consider that moving the car inspection department to the Ministry of Transportation will serve as a means of reducing the level of corruption. There are less corruption risks when service and control are divided among different structures. In this case, the police department will still have control, but the service will be provided by the Ministry of Transportation. So, the head of the police department has to check up on the cars and make sure the ministry’s car inspection is high-quality.
How is the Ministry of Transportation going to inspect the cars? Are there going to be new inspection sites in Armenia? Of course not, especially in Yerevan where there are a lot of them. Citizens can find any auto shop at every corner of the city and most of the auto technicians are professionals, however, there are other auto shops with high-tech equipment and high-quality service. The Ministry of Transportation will most probably announce a contest and the private companies which best fit in with the standards will receive a license. But we know for a fact that nobody wins in those contests by chance, especially when the head of the company announcing the contest, or the brother, the godfather are all part of the same company. All fingers point to the “Ararat-Lada” auto shop belonging to Minister of Transportation and Communications of Armenia Andranik Manukyan. The auto shop has branches in the 15th and Kanaker quarter-municipalities, as well as other locations. Do you actually think that “Ararat-Lada” will participate in the contest after this drastic change? Of course it will and it will win. What will “Ararat-Lada” get for it? As mentioned above, there are 300,000 registered cars in Armenia, which must go through inspection each year. So, each 13 dollars will not go to the state budget, but rather to A. Manukyan. Specialists say that nearly 240,000 cars are inspected each year. Based on calculations, the total amount will be 13 million 200 thousand dollars. In other words, this money will not be transferred to the state budget, but rather to the citizens doing business. One other thing about the change: drivers will be forced to take their cars to the licensed “services” for renovating. This will lead to the monopolization of auto shops. Many small auto shops will close, leaving many professionals unemployed and as a result, the rich will get richer. According to our sources, there are about 100,000 registered cars in Yerevan. So, it would be wrong to say that the level of corruption will go down as a result of this change.