The Armenian police hunted for the wife of Manvel Grigorian, a retired army general prosecuted on corruption charges, on Wednesday two days after another law-enforcement body issued an arrest warrant for her.
Grigorian was arrested on June 16 when security forces raided his properties in and around the town of Echmiadzin. They found there large quantities of weapons, medication and field rations for soldiers provided by the Armenian Defense Ministry. They also discovered canned food and several vehicles donated by Armenians at one of Grigorian’s mansions.
The Armenian parliament last week allowed investigators to prosecute and keep Grigorian in pre-trial detention on charges of illegal arms possession and embezzlement. Grigorian, who has been a parliament deputy since 2012, denies the accusations.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS), which is conducting the high-profile inquiry, decided on Monday to also arrest his wife, Nazik Amirian. Explaining the decision, the SIS said that two days after the ex-general’s arrest the police impounded two trucks laden with canned meat also meant for Armenian military personnel.
According to an SIS statement, the truck drivers told police officials that Amirian instructed them on June 16 to urgently transport the food from the Yerevan headquarters of the Yerkrapah Union of Karabakh war veterans to other locations. General Grigorian has headed Yerkrapah for nearly two decades.
The Armenpress news agency on Wednesday quoted a spokesman for the national police service as saying that it is still taking “measures” to track down and detain Amirian.
Amirian is the stepmother of Karen Grigorian, who resigned as mayor of Echmiadzin the day after his father’s arrest. He was charged last Friday with helping the ex-general misappropriate three vans that were donated to the military by an Armenian Diaspora organization in Russia in 2016.
The SIS did not arrest Grigorian Jr. and instead had him sign a pledge not to leave the country until the inquiry is over.
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