The documents for property and income of the five candidates for mayor of Gyumri have been presented to the election committee of the polls. Those documents are pretty interesting. It is required by law to state the income in the name of the candidate concerned.
It turns out that the richest of the candidates is National Assembly MP and member of the Armenian Republican Party Martin Sukiasyan. Sukiasyan, according to the document presented to the polls election committee, has received a salary of 3 million 92 thousand drams during the past year. Martin Sukiasyan has stated that he has one home in Gyumri and one in Yerevan. The MP has one garage in Yerevan and a 0,31 hectare property which is located near his home. In addition, the mayor candidate is a share-holder of the “Gyumri-Bread” Inc. His salary for the year of 2004 is $30,000 thousand dollars and 2 million 18 thousand Armenian drams. As for the mayor of Gyumri Vardan Ghukasyan, he has declared that he has an income of 2 million 160 thousand drams. Mr. Ghukasyan also stated that he has a home and property measuring 79 square meters. Besides that, Vardan Ghukasyan also owns the store located in Gyumri, (192/4 Shahumyan street). He has given that store for rent. The mayor has also mentioned his share-holdings in “Anbert” and “Ghukasyan brothers” Inc. He has three 25 thousand dram share holdings for “Anbert” Inc. and one 1 million 330 thousand dram share-holding of nominal value for “Ghukasyan brothers” Inc. As for the time slot during which the report for 2004 was being prepared, the mayor’s finances were calculated to be 20 million drams. The other three candidates for mayor do not really have much to talk about. Head of the Transportation Department of the regional district Marzpetuni Markaryan has stated that he only has one home in Gyumri, Mayakovski street and a 5 hectare property in the village of Voghch in the region of Shiraz. His total salary is 790,000 drams. Former head of the cultural department of the municipality Ashot Mkrtchyan stated that he has his own home which is 71 square meters and a 125 square meters property. He has received a salary of 1 million drams in 2004. In addition, out of the five candidates only Ashot Mkrtchyan has stated that he has a car. As a matter of fact, he has said that he has two cars-a 1995 Daimler Benz and the other is a 2004 “Zhiguli 2107”. The poorest of the candidates is assistant to the chief of insolvency of the “Gyumri Textile company” and member of the alderman council Hunan Avetisyan. He has neither a home nor property, real estate, and no exchange. He has only received 1 million 250 thousand drams salary in 2004. As for his savings, he has 4 million 208 thousand drams.
Of course, many of the residents of Gyumri know who has what from the five candidates. However, as for the state/political figures registering their property using the names of their friends and relatives and especially strangers, that is a different story. For example, Martin Sukiasyan has registered his property under the name of his son-in-laws. As for Vardan Ghukasyan, he has registered most of his stores under the names of his inheritances, brothers and their children. But that is not important. The important thing is that the money flows directly to their pockets.