$590,000 Stolen From Armenian Law-Enforcement Agency Recovered

YEREVAN — Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) has arrested a man who it believes stole last week $590,000 in cash kept in another law-enforcement agency’s offices in Yerevan.

The ACC has also found and recovered the bulk of the sum which the Investigative Committee temporarily confiscated from criminal suspects a year ago.

It was stolen on May 20 from a safe located on the sixth floor of a building in the city center housing an Investigative Committee division that deals with smuggling and other economic crimes.

In a video aired by Armenian Public Television on Monday evening, the ACC confirmed reports that an intruder entered the building in the afternoon, emptied the safe and escaped the following morning. It said it arrested the man, identified as Edgar Grigorian, and found over 98 percent of the stolen money stashed in multiple locations at the weekend.

According to the ACC, the unprecedented theft was organized by Gor Tadevosian, the acting head of an Investigative Committee division. Tadevosian was arrested on May 22. Both men have reportedly confessed to the crime which critics say highlighted the poor state of affairs within Armenia’s state apparatus.