Former Investigators Charged with Theft of $15,000 Worth of Gold Jewelry

The Special Investigative Service has announced that based on a sufficient combination of evidence obtained in the criminal case, charges have been filed against L.G. and V.A. for committing publicly dangerous acts as defined in the first part of the third paragraph of Article 179 of the Criminal Code. The two were employed as investigators in the Central and Norq-Marash Administrative Districts of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia and, with prior agreement, embezzled gold jewelry valued at $15,000.

According to the charges, senior investigator L.G. and investigator V.A. carried out a search at the residence of an individual accused of fraud within the scope of a criminal case initiated in 2015, and seized gold jewelry equivalent to 7,115,700 AMD belonging to the family members of the accused. However, the investigators, violating the requirements of the legislation, did not hand over the seized valuable items for storage at the public bank's institutions, but instead, with prior agreement and the intention to appropriate the gold jewelry, stole them. A portion of the jewelry was subsequently pawned by L.G. at a credit institution.

Furthermore, investigator V.A., in order to conceal the serious crime committed by himself and the head of the investigative group, rejected a request from the accused’s defense lawyer to return the gold jewelry to its owners, arguing that the discovered valuable items could serve as funds to secure legal costs, thus falsely asserting that the jewelry was entirely present and stored in the investigative division. After rejecting the request, V.A. sent the criminal case against the accused to the prosecutor with an indictment conclusion.

L.G. has been detained. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.