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The original was posted on /r/armenia by /u/ar_david_hh on 2024-09-12 22:39:44+00:00.
Original Title: Universal healthcare subsidies \ Armenia to rebuild electricity substations \ Who owns the transit payment service TelCell? \ Revolution coming \ Asset forfeiture & anti-corruption \ Eurojust & crime \ Weapons & defense: India, China \ Global forums in Armenia \ and…
7 minutes of Armenia coverage in Transcaucasian Telegraph’s Sep/12/2024 edition.
who are the owners of the TelCell mobile payment processor used in Yerevan’s public transport?
Telcell won the tender organized by Mayor Hayk Marutyan in 2021. Marutyan was ousted later that year.
The new mayor, Hrachya Sargsyan, launched a new tender in 2022. Ex-Mayor Marutyan was surprised and baffled by the decision not to sign the original contract with Telcell.
Telcell won the 2022 tender, too, for a duration of 5 years. The city doesn’t pay Telcell for installing and operating the ticket system. Instead, Tellcell earns revenue by receiving free ad slots in the Yerevan subway and advertising its other services to passengers who install their app.
… Who are the shareholders of Telcell?
• 56% is owned by Lendasy Trading Ltd, a company registered in Cyprus in 2017. It is controlled by an Israeli-Russian businessman Rami (Evgeny) Treyster. He bought the shares in December 2022.
Treyster has been active in Russia. He founded InfoOborona and led the instant payment system Delta Telecom.
• 18% of Telcell is owned by Serj-era Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan. He obtained the shares after 2022.
• 15% Aramayis Badalyan
• 6% Tatevik Avetisyan (daughter of Serj-era deputy transport minister)
• 5% Aram Noriki Sargsyan (former ranking IRS official)
WHERE IS GRZO? AND WHAT IS TIKO DOING HERE?
pro-Russian opposition forces are gearing up for Round-2 attempt to oust Prime Minister Pashinyan
His Holiness Bagrat Galstanyan, the figurehead of the failed movement to oust Pashinyan earlier this year, recently announced a plan to resume the efforts this fall. The next big event will be held in Hamalir on September 22.
This week Galstanyan went to meet Robert Kocharyan and Serj Sargsyan, the leaders of the factions that provided him the advisory and support for the unsuccessful revolution. Galstanyan said Levon Ter-Petrosyan has not yet agreed to meet him for “justified reasons”. He also met the political leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The first wave of protests ended after protesters attempted to storm the Parliament building and cracks began to form in protest leadership.
Government approves a $40 million energy transition and modernization loan with World Bank
They plan to rebuild several key substations:
• Shahumyan-2, 250 MVA, built 1964
• Marash, 375 MVA, built 1978
• Yeghenadzor, 126 MVA, built 1966
… what will be upgraded?
• replace physically worn equipment with new technology
• replace obsolete relay protection systems with microprocessor relays
• restore the reinforced concrete structures, foundations
… why?
• reduce the time required to fix outages & reduce the number of outages
• substantially improve the quality of electricity nationwide
• increase the capacity to handle a larger load
Armenian Government approves a €102 million loan from IBRD to implement the Universal Healthcare
The funds will be used to subsidize the healthcare packages for low-income citizens.
It was reported earlier that in order to qualify for universal care, able-bodied persons must have tax-visible employment and pay a monthly fee, but if their income is below a certain level, the government will subsidize that fee.
Armenia is joining EU’s Eurojust; will receive evidence and support from member states while investigating crimes
The Government has already approved its ratification and now they are approving adjacent documents so Armenia can send a resident prosecutor to Europe. The President of Eurojust Ladislav Hamran will visit Armenia on September 23.
PASHINYAN: Can we receive information from Europe about the suspects’ properties? [the dog is eyeing more mansions]
PROSECUTOR GENERAL: Only as part of active felony cases. However, Eurojust also has an informational database containing information about properties that we have the right to obtain as part of criminal investigations. I should mention that Eurojust itself is not for making inquiries, it’s a platform that allows us to have immediate contact with the country where we send the inquiry. It’s a two-way cooperation.
… crime rate in Armenia
PASHINYAN: Opposition MPs claim crime is up in Armenia. What do statistics actually show?
INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE CHIEF: The MPs are probably relying on the number of launched criminal investigations. This is misleading if you don’t deduct the number of cases that end up being closed when the investigation reveals no crime.
PROSECUTOR GENERAL: The MPs were citing numbers from 2023, when we recorded higher crime numbers. As for the latest H1 2024 stats, the crime is down. Regarding the increase in 2023, it should be noted that we changed the criminal code in 2022 and how crime is counted. Under the new rules, the bar to launch a criminal investigation has been significantly lowered, which means these days we launch a case pretty much every single time. We also had tens of thousands of “suspended” cases that were resumed, making it seem like they were new crimes. We also began to treat sudden deaths as potential “murders”, further impacting the statistics.
PASHINYAN: I understand, but is there a formula that allows us to compare pre- and post-2022 changes?
PROSECUTOR GENERAL: We have decided to change the priority and pay more attention to the number of cases actually sent to courts and the number of verdicts. You will notice this shift in priority in regular reports.
… the number of crimes committed in the first half of…
2023: 19,891
2024: 18,817 (-5.4%)
82% of all crimes were small or medium severity.
Severe crimes: -8% YoY
Aggravated severe crimes: +18% YoY (more crimes involving guns)
Murders: -7% YoY
… recorded crime incidents jumped in provinces immediately after introducing the professional Patrol Police: Investigative Committee chief
KYARAMYAN: The Patrol Police rollout was gradual. In each province where it was introduced, we received reports from provincial offices indicating a 60-70 monthly increase in recorded crimes. These were mostly about narcotics and possession of weapons. This “increase” is welcome because these crimes were happening one way or the other; now they are being exposed by more professional Patrol Police.
… fewer people are offering bribes to Patrol Police officers: ACC chief
The number of bribery attempts has decreased from 48 to 12 this year, a 75% decline, said the official, who added that media reports highlighting the difficulty of bribing a Patrol Police officer play an important role as a deterrent.
… Academic City will have a police academy
In the future, police officers who want a promotion or decide to move to a different department will be required to take courses in a new academy that will unify two existing police and emergency schools.
Officers will be required to take retraining courses once a year. This requirement will likely come sooner than the Academic City.
video, source, source, source,
anti-corruption: former deputy defense minister agrees to return $0.5 million to state as part of asset forfeiture case -----------------------------------------…
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