During the study conducted by the prosecutor's office of Lori region, it has been found out that corruption manifestations also occur in the administrative territory of the region during the process of cash payments of pensions or benefits by the employees of the branch of <<Haypost >> CJSC.
In particular, in the course of the preliminary investigation within the framework of the criminal case being investigated by the Investigative Department of Lori Region of the RA IC, sufficient evidences have been obtained that, during the provision of monthly pensions and benefits, 5 employees of the corresponding post office of Vandzor branch of Haypost CJSC have regularly received 100-200 AMD.
Taking into account that the received amount has not exceeded the established amount, the preliminary investigation body has decided to terminate the criminal case on the basis of the absence of corpus delicti in the acts of these employees.
The conducted studies have provided grounds for reasonable assumptions that actions by the employees of HayPost CJSC concerning collecting illegal money could have also occurred in other branches of Haypost CJSC too. Taking into account thаt fact the acting prosecutor of Lori region has also contacted the executive director of HayPost CJSC with a view to take measures to neutralize such manifestations in the other post offices. The petition has also raised the issue of applying disciplinary actions against these workers.
Recently, numerous reports have been received from the Social Security Service of the Republic of Armenia to the RA Prosecutor General’s Office regarding the provision of cash pensions carried out with other obvious violations of the requirements of the legislation by the employees of various branches of Haypost CJSC.
In accordance with the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On state pensions”, a pension is paid only in cash to a pensioner in person or to a person (authorized by a notary) entitled to receive the pension. According to the agreement between the SSSS of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and “HayPost” CJSC on the provision of services for the payment of pensions or benefits, pension can be paid in cash only to a pensioner included in the payment list or instead of him/her to a person entitled to receive pension on the basis of a document certifying the identity.
However, the combination of data from the state pension system and from the information system of border electronic control has showed that in April 2019, many consumers who have been absent from the republic for a long period of time have been paid from the post offices of Haypost CJSC.
Based on the messages received from the Social Security Service of the Republic of Armenia, the territorial divisions of the prosecutor's office have been instructed to implement verification measures, and in some cases to initiate criminal proceedings. The RA Prosecutor’s Office will be consistent on this issue. As a result of these measures, if sufficient data will be obtained regarding such obvious criminal manifestations, prosecutorial measures will be applied to give legal assessments to the actions of people involved in these processes.
