Armenian MPs, parliament staff get hefty bonuses

Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan has awarded hefty holiday bonuses to all members and staffers of the parliament.

In a statement to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday, Laura Antonyan, head of the parliament's Public Relations and Communication Department, said they twice received cash bonuses equivalent to their monthly salary totaling to over half a billion drams ($1.25 million).

The parliament speaker approved almost $300,000 in bonuses last year.

Tigran Abrahamyan, secretary of the opposition Pativ Unem faction, told Panorama.am that he and his fellow MPs donated their bonuses to charity.