AZERBAIJAN COMPUTER HARD DRIVES STOLEN FROM INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND OFFICES Computer hard drives stolen from IMF offices in Azerbaijan - International Herald Tribune:

Computer hard drives stolen from IMF offices in Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan: Thieves stole four computer hard drives containing financial, personnel and research files from the office of the International Monetary Fund in the Azerbaijani capital, police and a fund official said Tuesday.

The theft happened sometime Monday morning at the fund's Baku offices, located in the Finance Ministry's main administrative building, a worker at the fund told The Associated Press.

The employee, who refused to give her name because she was not authorized to speak to the media, said the four hard drives contained the fund's primary database of information for its operations in the ex-Soviet republic. Computer monitors and other peripheral hardware was left behind, she said, and nothing else was taken from the office. Neither windows nor doors in the office — located on the third floor of the five-story building — showed any sign of damage.

Police were investigating the theft, detective Arif Rzaiev said.

The incident came about a week before the arrival of a high-level IMF delegation, which is expected to discuss government efforts to restructure the country's energy sector and other issues.

Revenues from the Caspian Sea nation's extensive oil- and gas-reserves are rapidly filling up state coffers, leading to fears about ill-advised economic policies and higher inflation pressures. The government of President Ilham Aliev — who succeeded his long-ruling late father in 2003 — has sharply increased its military budget in recent years.