By Alexander Pracht
A once-accessible public database that helped estimate the number of officially registered employees in Armenian companies is no longer functional, further limiting transparency into shadow employment and corruption in the country.
The digital tool, hosted by the Insurance Foundation for Servicemen (IFS), known colloquially as Zinapah, had long allowed users, including investigative journalists, to check how much each company paid in mandatory stamp duties for its workers. These payments went toward compensations to families of fallen soldiers and, as they were required for all registered employees, gave a rough picture of how many staff members were officially on payroll. This allowed civil society to gauge the extent of under-the-table employment in various sectors, an issue Armenian authorities have often said they are committed to tackling.
Although there were no reports of the fund’s closure, and the welfare payments continue, the tool stopped returning any search results. Upon inquiry made by Armenia’s branch of Radio Free Europe, the Foundation confirmed that the data is no longer publicly available and directed questions to the State Revenue Committee, the country’s tax regulator, which provided no additional clarification.
For 2024, Transparency International gave Armenia a score of 47 out of 100 in its Corruption Perceptions Index, which evaluates how corrupt each country’s public sector is perceived to be by its citizens. Although Armenia performed better than most other Eastern European countries, it still faces systemic issues — and progress made after the 2018 revolution has slowed in recent years.
Speaking to CivilNet in February, Varuzhan Hoktanyan, Project Director at Transparency International Armenia, pointed to a lack of enforcement as one of the main obstacles. “We don’t have this culture of implementing laws which have been written down on paper. We don’t respect them,” he said, adding that the government has been reluctant to escalate its fight against corruption.
