YEREVAN — Large-scale investigative and tactical operations are underway to uncover the circumstances surrounding the embezzlement case in Yerevan’s Yans restaurant. Organized crime unit officers and detectives have searched the homes of S. Karapetyan, the director of Selena LLC — the company owning the restaurant — and R. Beglaryan, the owner of the company. The restaurant itself was also searched. It is located in Yerevan’s Teryan Street. Police found large amounts of cash in the search.

The investigative committee says the cash has been handed over to the Central Bank for storage until the investigation reveals the circumstances and its origin. Authorities found 1,100,400 US dollars in cash, as well as 230,500 euros and 36,000,000 drams.

The investigative committee said it discovered fraud in the restaurant complex back in a 2017 internal inspection.

The bookkeeper of the restaurant is suspected of carrying out embezzlements from 2012 to 2017, causing over 25,000,000 drams in damages to the restaurant. In some cases, the bookkeeper acted with the knowledge of the manager, the investigative committee said.

The bookkeeper had returned over 6 million from the total embezzlement to the director of the restaurant as a restoration of the damages.

Police have searched the premises of the restaurant, as well as the homes of the director of the company owning the restaurant, and the home of the owner of the company itself. Financial records, computers, electronic devices have been confiscated.

Two handguns and more than 1 million dollars in cash were also discovered, but police didn’t say where the cash and the gun were discovered specifically.