Armenia ranks 62nd out of 180 countries and territories evaluated in the Berlin-based watchdog’s 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released on Tuesday. It shared 63rd place with Romania in the previous CPI released a year ago.
The South Caucasus state’s CPI “score,” measured on a 100-point scale, rose from 46 to 47 over the past year. The Armenian government had pledged to have it gradually raised to 55 in its three-year anti-corruption strategy approved in 2019.
Varuzhan Hoktanian, the head of Transparency International’s Armenian partner organization, downplayed the slight improvement, saying that it is within the CPI survey’s 2.5-point margin of error and only shows continuing “stagnation” in the government’s declared fight against corruption.
“The global [CPI] average is 43 … So I say this every year: if a country’s CPI is below 50 it means corruption is a serious problem there,” Hoktanian told reporters.
“In the two years following the 2018 Velvet Revolution, Armenia experienced significant democratic and anti-corruption reforms,” Transparency International said in a report attached to the latest CPI rankings. “However, progress against corruption has stalled, primarily due to the limited implementation of these new measures.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly claimed to have eliminated “systemic corruption” in Armenia. However, members of his entourage are increasingly accused by Armenian media of enriching themselves or their cronies and breaking their anti-corruption promises given in 2018. There are also growing questions about integrity in public procurement administered by the current government.
About a year ago, Pashinian urged senior Armenian officials to sue media outlets “falsely” accusing them of illicit enrichment. Shortly afterwards, hackers hijacked the YouTube channel of the Yerevan newspaper Aravot just as it was about to publish a video report detailing expensive property acquisitions by several senior government officials and pro-government parliamentarians.
In December, the Armenian parliament controlled by Pashinian’s Civil Contract party effectively fired the head of a state anti-corruption watchdog who investigated many pro-government lawmakers suspected of illicit enrichment, conflict of interest or other corrupt practices. The National Assembly ignored a joint statement in support of the official, Haykuhi Harutiunian, issued by several Armenian civic organizations.