Police Order ‘Fancy’ Traffic Tickets at Taxpayers’ Expense: Press

Armenia's police will pay 490 million drams  (about US$1 million) to the country's HayPost postal service to deliver traffic violation tickets to drivers. On April 22, according to Haykakan Zhamanak daily newspaper, the law enforcement agency signed a contract with HayPost for “provision of paid postal deliveries and auxiliary services.”

“HayPost is to pick up the tickets at the Yerevan traffic police department and deliver them to citizens who've committed a violation. Documents show that for over 490 million drams, HayPost has to deliver nearly 1,4 million tickets, i.e., at least one violation for every Armenian citizen,” the daily writes.

Under the agreement, the price of every 20-gram delivery will be 350 dram, while, Haykakan Zhamanak stresses, such 20-gram envelopes usually cost only 120 drams. “We can only assume that the police have ordered fancy traffic ticket delivery services – perhaps, with gold embroidered envelopes – at the expense of the taxpayers. Meanwhile – dare we say – the cheapest option would have been preferable in this case. It is also possible that this price has been greatly exaggerated, which is not uncommon in the public procurement system,” the paper notes.