The Prohibition of Accepting Officio Gifts
New regulations regarding the acceptance of officio gifts by the new Law on “Public Service” have been established.
The acceptance of gifts, while exercising official duties is prohibited by the law. According to the Government order, the public official, while accepting a permissible gifts should inform about it.
If the amount of the gift accepted by the high-ranking official exceeds 75 thousand Armenian Drams, the latter is considered as state or community property, is registered and is handed over to state or community.
Currently, official permissible gifts are classified as property consumer and non-consumer. If the amount of the non-consumer gift exceeds 100 thousand Armenian Drams, the person, upon the consent of his/her superior, as well as the person who does not have a superior, on his/her initiative gives it to charity or considers the latter as the property of the respective agency and the gift is inventoried. As a result, the gift as a charity can be given to a preferable person and the latter will not become a state property.
If the amount of the property consumer gift exceeds 100 thousand Armenian Drams, the person having a superior informs the latter. By that, the high-ranking officials can accept for example a watch costing 50 thousand U.S. Dollars only by informing his/her superior.
It should be noted, that the current law does not define which is the property non-consumer gift. The result of the accepting a consumer gift, the amount of which exceeds 100 thousand Armenian Drams is also still unclear.
