Zhoghovurd Newspaper: Corruption Master-Class by “Minister of Death” Arsen Torosyan
"Parliamentarian Narek Zeynalyan, representing the Civil Contract party, has not only been stripped of his MP mandate after receiving an SMS demanding his resignation, but is also unlikely to be appointed as the director of the hospital where he currently serves as acting director. Arsen Torosyan and Anahit Avanesyan are backing a joint nominee for the position and are making serious efforts in that direction, though the minister, currently on vacation, has yet to comment."
Why has "Minister of Death" Arsen Torosyan turned against his former ally Narek Zeynalyan, promoting his close associate Narek Vanesyan for the position of Director at the "Surb Grigor Lusavorich" Medical Center? And why has Minister of Healthcare Anahit Avanesyan formed an alliance with him in this effort? Vanesyan, who led the quarantine facilities in Yerevan during the COVID-19 crisis, is set to become the new director of the medical center.
Zhoghovurd Daily has launched a series of articles examining questionable expenditures and inefficient spending during the fight against COVID-19 under Arsen Torosyan’s tenure as Armenia’s healthcare minister.
The articles reveal how, in 2020, 16,820,846.8 thousand AMD of the 26,491,923.9 thousand AMD allocated for the rapid prevention, control, treatment, and management of COVID-19 in Armenia was funneled into 26 reprofiled medical institutions at the request of then-Minister Arsen Torosyan.
The list provided by Zhoghovurd Daily is based on data from the Ministry of Finance of Armenia, showing that 6.8 billion AMD out of the 16 billion AMD allocated for COVID-19 efforts was directed to the Surb Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center under Arsen Torosyan’s orders.
The next largest allocation went to the State Infectious Diseases Hospital, receiving 2.29 billion AMD. Since then, the hospital has seen eight changes in leadership.
Another recipient of the funds was the Surb Astvatsavayr Medical Clinic, headed by Hovhanness Zohrabyan, another close associate of Arsen Torosyan. The two have built summer homes with similar architecture next to each other in Tsaghkadzor. In addition, Zohrabyan is a protégé of Narek Vanesyan, the nominee for the director position at Surb Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center, and remains a loyal ally of Torosyan.
Another significant sum, 1.438 billion AMD, was allocated to the Center of Traumatology during the COVID-19 crisis.
For comparison, many larger hospitals in Armenia, which are more popular and have higher capacities, received much less funding. For example, Erebuni Hospital received 303 million AMD, Armenia Hospital 278 million AMD, Astghik Medical Center 192 million AMD, and the hospitals affiliated with Yerevan State Medical University received only 70 million AMD. The disparity is striking.
Distribution of Budgetary Funds Between Medical Centers
This is why Arsen Torosyan and the current healthcare minister cannot allow an outsider to take the director’s post at Surb Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center - they need to maintain control over the generous flow of state funding.
In our upcoming articles, we will continue to explore the distribution of state and other funds allocated to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Armenia.
Arsen Torosyan, who frequently accuses previous Armenian authorities of misappropriating state funds, could easily give a masterclass on how to spend billions in violation of regulations and misappropriate resources - while remaining unpunished.
