The Guardian addresses the Anti-Corruption Council and the lavish expenses of the Armenian prime minister Hovik Abrahamyan who heads the anti-corruption council. With funding from US and EU, new state initiative promised to clean up politics. But choice of chair draws widespread skepticism, says Marianna Grigoryan.

A much-touted anti-corruption drive in Armenia has got off to a bad start as questions are raised about the spending and income of leading government members of the committee – including its chair, the prime minister.

The Anti-Corruption Council, which receives funds from the European Union and the United States Agency for International Development, formally began operations at the end of July. It is supposed to have opposition and civil society members as well as government officials on its ranks, but so far no one from the opposition or non-governmental organizations has joined – largely because of skepticism about its credibility.

In 2014, the watchdog Transparency International ranked Armenia 94th out of 175 countries for perceptions of public-sector corruption. The government has long condemned corruption but has largely failed to investigate or prosecute senior officials suspected of wrongdoing.

See the article in The Guardian.