The U.S. Department of Justice and USAID announced in Washington that Michael E. Hase, 62, was arrested in Dulles, Virginia by Federal agents of the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Hase is accused of diverting over $19,000 in U. S. Government funds by directing a USAID recipient, a commercial bank in Armenia, to send money owed to the U.S. Government to his personal bank account. In January 2009, at the time of the alleged offense, Hase was a personal service contractor for the USAID mission in Yerevan, Armenia, where he was responsible for the mission's financial management activities.

The USAID mission in Armenia and the entire U.S. embassy take seriously our stewardship of U.S. taxpayer monies and are committed to using all our assistance resources effectively and for the benefit of Armenia. We do not tolerate the abuse of public office for private gain, and we train our personnel to detect and report any suspicious activity.