Hurriyet Daily News: ANCA may face investigationFebruary 24, 2009 - 00:38 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Washington based ethics monitor, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, has filed complaints with federal agencies against the Armenian National Committee of America, or ANCA, for various lobbying and campaign violations, Hurriyet Daily News reports.Accordiong to Turkish newspaper "CREW submitted voluminous materials to the U.S. Department of Justice, Internal Revenue Service, Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House on Thursday that complained ANCA, the largest U.S. Armenian group had engaged in prohibited activity as a charitable organization, violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act and also skirted the Lobbying Disclosure Act." As it is mentioned in the article "the letters of complaint said ANCA had violated restrictions on charitable organizations "by participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office." It said the organization illegally participated in the endorsement of Barack Obama for U.S. President and Joseph Biden for Vice-President, as well as some 15 U.S. Senate candidates and 211 U.S. House candidates." Moreover ANCA executives "have lobbied Congress and the executive branch heavily with regard to perennial congressional Armenian genocide resolutions and other legislation bearing on U.S.-Armenia, U.S.-Turkey or U.S.-Azerbaijani relations without even registering with the Secretary of the Senate or Clerk of the House." Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Get Started: An educational platform for young startuppers The Get Started program which operates in two phases is an important platform for young startuppers. Byblos Bank Armenia celebrates Students' Day with scholarship recipients YSU students who received scholarships from Byblos Bank Armenia gathered in a casual setting to meet with the Bank's CEO, Hayk Stepanyan. Azerbaijan extends Rune Vardanyan’s arrest by 5 months A court in Azerbaijan has extended the arrest of former Nagorno-Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan by five months. Armenia border residents dissatisfied with delimitation Residents Kirants are dissatisfied with the results of the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. |