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Tokmakjian Group Trading Company Shut Down In Cuba Over Corruption S

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  • Tokmakjian Group Trading Company Shut Down In Cuba Over Corruption S

    TOKMAKJIAN GROUP TRADING COMPANY SHUT DOWN IN CUBA OVER CORRUPTION SCANDAL

    September 17, 2011 - 15:36 AMT

    PanARMENIAN.Net - Cuba has shut down one of the most important western
    trading companies in the country as an investigation into alleged
    corrupt import-export practices broadened to a second Canadian firm,
    foreign business sources said on Friday, September 16.

    According to Reuters, state security agents on Friday watched
    who entered the building in Havana's Miramar Trade Center where
    Ontario-based Tokmakjian Group, one of the top Canadian companies
    doing business on the communist-run island, has its offices.

    The company offices on the fourth floor were sealed with a notice
    that it had been closed by Cuban State Security.

    "We received notice on Monday from the foreign ministry and the Council
    of State, which is the procedure in such cases, to stop all dealings
    with the Tokmakjian Group," said an employee of a Cuban company that
    does business with the firm.

    Tokmakjian Group is estimated to do around $80 million in business
    annually with the Caribbean island, mainly selling transportation,
    mining and construction equipment. The company is the exclusive Cuba
    distributor of Hyundai, among other brands, and a partner in two joint
    ventures replacing the motors of Soviet-era transportation equipment.

    Company officials were not immediately available for comment.

    Cuban authorities shut down Canadian firm Tri-Star Caribbean on July
    15 and arrested company president Sarkis Yacoubian. The company,
    considered a competitor of Tokmakjian Group, did around $30 million
    in business with Cuba.

    Cuban President Raul Castro has made fighting corruption a top priority
    since taking over for his ailing brother Fidel in 2008, and in the
    past year a number of Cuban officials and foreign businessmen have
    been charged in graft cases.

    Tri-Star Caribbean did business with around half of the 35 Cuban
    state companies authorized to import, from tourism, transportation
    and construction to the nickel and oil industries, communications
    and public health.

    The whereabouts of the man who founded the family business, Cy
    Tokmakjian, of Armenian heritage, born in Syria and educated in Canada,
    was not clear on Friday.

    Tokmakjian, a former mechanic, is a self-made millionaire with
    interests in Canada and other countries besides Cuba, where he is a
    well known figure. He made his first deal with the Caribbean island
    in 1988.

    http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/78414/



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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