Through the unified electronic platform for whistle-blowing, according to the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On the whistle-blowing system”, a whistle-blower may anonymously report information about a corruption incident. Through the unified electronic platform [for whistle-blowing], the Republic of Armenia, namely the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, guarantees the protection of the whistle-blower by ensuring his or her anonymity. In this sense, it should be mentioned that anonymous whistle-blowing is considered as one of the major guarantees for protection of whistle-blowers, as it ensures whistle-blowers’ trust in the protection of their personal data, taking into consideration the fact that it is unknown to both third parties and competent state bodies.
Thus, according to part 2 of Article 13 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, “Each State Party shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the relevant anti-corruption bodies referred to in this Convention are known to the public and shall provide access to such bodies, where appropriate, for the reporting, including anonymously, of any incidents that may be considered to constitute an offence established in accordance with this Convention”.In this sense, the anonymity of a whistle-blower is guaranteed by coding his or her Internet Protocol Address. Those visiting the platform are provided with the opportunity to choose their preferred option between whistle-blowing anonymously and [whistle-blowing] by way of submitting data, fill in the data corresponding to the method of whistle-blowing selected in the relevant fields, attach the electronic materials related to the report, confirm the report upon verification of the data filled out and submit it to the system’s reports management module.
In case of existence of grounds for verifying the report, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia forwards the document version of the report to the body implementing operational intelligence activities. In addition, the report is subject to verification as prescribed by the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On operational intelligence activities”, where the information presented in the report is sufficiently substantiated, concerns a particular official or body and contains data that may be verified.