Robert Kocharyan slams huge bonuses to senior officials

Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan on Thursday criticized the government for awarding hefty bonuses to senior officials, accusing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of putting money ahead of the needs of ordinary citizens.

“When Pashinyan came to power, he said he loved the people. But now it turns out he loves money,” Kocharyan said at a news conference. “If he truly loved the people, the situation of pensioners would not be what it is today.”

Kocharyan, who served as president from 1998 to 2008, said the issue of massive bonuses was a matter of conscience. He pointed out that pensions had not been properly indexed over the past eight years and that increases had failed to keep up with rising prices.

According to him, the government should be legally required to index pensions annually in line with inflation.

“Against this background, officials have been awarded bonuses of 7 to 9 million drams,” Kocharyan said. “I can hardly even describe this. It is difficult to characterize it in normative language.”

Responding to government claims that high bonuses are necessary to prevent qualified officials from leaving the public sector for private business, Kocharyan rejected the argument.

“Who exactly are these people who could leave and successfully establish themselves in the private sector?” he asked. “What specialists do you have that the private sector actually needs? None. Or what kind of specialist received 3 billion drams?”

Kocharyan proposed that future governments ban large bonuses to senior officials, emphasizing that such a measure would apply only to top leadership and not to mid-level civil servants.

“This is a striking example of corruption – institutionalized corruption,” he said.