YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The final report of the parliament ad hoc commission which was set up to make investigations into misappropriations of public funds–earmarked for energy resource imports in the early 90s–has been sent to the president of Armenia and prosecutor’s general office–Khoren Sarkisian.
After several months of work–the commissions reported a $200 million damage to the state budget as a result of misappropriations and abuse of power on behalf of senior officials of ex-president Levon Ter-Petrossian.
Sarkisian dismissed opinions that have appeared in the press alleging that the final report was a political persecution of the former key governmental officials. "I was a member of the commission and during my work in it none of us thought of the work as a political persecution. Some people now insist that the committed crime should not be qualified as such until it is proved by court–whereas it is nothing but a crime and many former officials have made fortunes at the expense of the people," he said.
Sarkisian also said there are some concerns whether the responsible people should be punished in accordance with the law. "To tell the truth–the administration of justice depends on the president–if the president wants them to be punished they will be punished–and if he does–they will not avoid it," he concluded.