Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

During 2011 and 2012, employees of the RA Public Services Regulatory Commission, RA Government-Affiliated State Revenue Committee, RA Control Chamber, and the RA National Security Council have received 6.643.111.620 AMD-worth bonuses and total of 14.513.200 AMD-worth gifts.

On August 20, 2013 the Freedom of Information Center had applied to these institutions as well as to the RA State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition, with written requests to get information asking to inform:

1. Have employees of the particular body received awards (bonuses, gifts) in 2011 and 2012?
2. If yes, who was awarded (according to the payroll) and in what amount (what gifts)?
3. How much was the total amount of the monetary awards received by the employees?
4. How much is the value of each of the gifts received by the employees and the total amount of the values of the gifts?

The RA State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition has refused to respond to FOICA’s inquiry, believing that providing information, even non nominal, would be considered as publication of personal data, given the small number of the employees of the Commission. FOICA has deemed this refusal groundless since, on the one hand, the matter concerns the money provided to employees of state institutions from the taxes that each of us pay and, on the other hand, FOICA had also asked to provide general statistic data that never involve publication of personal data of the employees of the Commission; however the Commission did not provide any data.

Incomplete answer was received from the RA National Security Council; they did not provide the requested information about the awards received by the employees according to the payroll. The Council did not refuse to provide the information requested by the 2nd question of the inquiry but simply did not refer to it in a response letter, therefore the answer was deemed incomplete.

Employees of the 4 aforementioned bodies having provided information have received 6.643.111.620 AMD-worth bonuses and gifts with total value of 14.513.200 AMD during 2011 and 2012.

The largest portion of bonuses went to the employees of SRC: 2.694.870.700 AMD in 2011 and 3.774.182.100 AMD in 2012. The smallest portion was provided to the employees of the RA National Security Council - 5.375.000 AMD in 2012.

SRC is the only institution whose employees, according to the information provided by SRC, have received gifts. The total value of these gifts was 14.513.200 AMD: gifts worth of 8.053.200 AMD in 2011 and gifts worth of 6.460.000 AMD in 2012. Watches, laptops, and iPads were received as gifts by the employees occupying the positions of the Head of Department, Deputy Head of Department, Deputy Head of Inspection (of customs house), Sector Head, Chief Inspector (Chief Specialist) and Inspector (specialist).

You can refer to the FOICA’s inquiries and the written answers on the related page of FOICA’s website www.givemeinfo.am, while the statuses of the answers given to FOICA’s inquiries (complete answer, incomplete answer, groundless refusal, etc.) as well as the brief content of the answers can be reached here.