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KENYA: THE ARTURS ARMENIAN AFFAIR REDUX
African Path, MN
http://www.africanpath.com/p_blogEntry.cfm?blog EntryID=1699
July 24 2007
For much of the first half of 2006, a colourful pair of Armenian
brothers, Artur Magaryan and Artur Sargasyan (variously described as
possibly also being Russian or Czech nationals) amazed and shocked
Kenyans with their macho antics and apparent connections to the
highest office in the land.
They entered the national consciousness because of a weird dawn
press conference at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport called by a
Nairobi lawyer, Fred Ngatia. Ostensibly on his client's arrival from
Dubai, Ngatia told the press that the two Armenians would respond to
allegations; such as those of opposition Members of Parliament, Raila
Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka, claiming the Armenians were assassins
contracted to do harm to opposition politicians.
If its intention was to convince the press, and Kenyans, that the
Armenians were credible international businessmen, unfairly maligned
for political purposes by the opposition, then Ngatia's March 13,
2006 press conference was remarkably devoid of any prospect of success.
For example, as it turns out, the passenger manifest (faxed by
Ngatia to the press) for the Armenians' supposed carrier Kenya
Airways 311 from Dubai on March 13, was a crude forgery. The East
African Standard quotes an airline official as saying: "Neither the
name nor the passport number of the said man appears in our manifest
for flight number KQ311 from Dubai." As if that were not bad enough,
questions were immediately raised by the alert press as to the use of
the official Government of Kenya VIP Visitors Lounge, by Mr. Ngatia
for his clients, which had obviously been gained with the irregular
cooperation of top security, State House and airport officials. The
penny dropped when neither the Armenians nor their lawyer were able
to show the press flight boarding passes as evidence of their trip.
Opinion crystallised once Ngatia made the bizarre claim that he was
under instructions from the Government of Armenia to call the press
out to the Airport in the middle of the night to meet his clients.
The press duly reported the incredulous denial of the Government
of Armenia.
Thereafter, Artur Magaryan and his brother Artur Sargasyan, threw
lavish parties, drew guns, flashed cash and dropped the names of the
crème de la crème, amidst claims that they were mercenaries, hit-men,
drug dealers and arms traffickers. Most shocking, Artur Magaryan was
rumoured to be enamoured of the President's reputed daughter Winnie
Wangui Mwai; herself a controversial figure and the subject of no less
than 3 official government public communications since January 2004
stating that she is not the President's relative. On the first occasion
in January 2004, an unsigned press release from State House pointedly
delimited the President's family; a second addressed the press on
the membership of the presidential family; while a third recounted
Ms. Mwai's names as they appear in her national identity card.
The brothers' public antics infuriated a hostile Kenyan public, but
always bubbled over until June 2006 when they finally broke the bounds
of tolerance. A public outcry ensued following an incident at the
customs hall of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi,
during which the Artur brothers, in the company of a visiting group
of burly Armenians, assaulted Customs officers using guns in full
view of the Police, petrified travellers, and at least one cabinet
minister waiting in queue to enter Kenya. By the next evening, Kenyan
television ran a live broadcast of their deportation, on first class
government tickets to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
A couple of days later on June 16, President Kibaki instituted a
formal inquiry into their activities headed by a former Commissioner
of Police, Shadrack Kiruki and suspended several public officers from
duty for their various roles in the airport fracas. They were:
Joseph Kamau, the Director of the Kenya Police Criminal Investigation
Department - alleged to have illegally provided the Armenian group with
police rank status as Assistant Commissioners of Police Naomi Sidi, the
Deputy Managing Director of the Kenya Airports Authority - alleged to
have illegally provided the Armenians with Airport 'Access-All-Areas'
identification documents Winnie Wangui Mwai, an Assistant Secretary
in the Ministry of Water, who allegedly exploited her State House
connections to interfere with the arrest and subsequent deportation
of the Armenians Edward Kiptoo Mutai, Security Warden at the Kenya
Airports Authority Paul Latoya, a protocol officer with the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs Stephen Kipruto Tumbo, Senior Superintendent of
Police, OCPD Nairobi Division Chief Inspector Josephat Gikonyo- OCS
JKIA Police Station Inspector Daniel Maithya - CIVCRIME JKIA Police
Station Sgt. Evelyn Owon - JKIA Police Station Cpl. James Kimihu-
JKIA Police Station James Gitonga, Immigration officer I
After weeks of public hearings, it was clear there had been an
appalling system failure at the Companies Registry, Immigration
Department and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. For example,
Kenyans heard testimony from witnesses who calmly stated that there
were no recordings of the incident at the airport because the closed
circuit television security cameras in the customs and baggage
international arrivals hall did not work.
President Kibaki received the Inquiry Report in late August 2006. It
has never been made public, as promised. Nevertheless, various media
have described its contents and findings:
It uncovers a pattern of fraud and corruption in the customs,
immigration and police services, and also within the Kenyan political
elite.
It restates the findings of an Interpol investigation which concludes
that it is impossible to verify the true identities of inter alia Artur
Sargasyan and Artur Magaryan, because they are in possession of travel
documents reported stolen in Russia and Europe; further their company
(Brother Link International Company Limited) registration documents
in Kenya appear to be forgeries or at best obtained in contravention
of the law Its most explosive recommendation is for the prosecution
for tax evasion and corporate fraud of Winnie Wangui Mwai. It also
recommends her immediate dismissal from her civil service job in the
Ministry of Water.
It accuses the Armenians of drug smuggling and money laundering and
calls for their immediate arrest should they return to Kenya.
Specifically, it states that it believes that Sargasyan "was involved
in organized crime and drug smuggling and ... was seeking an outlet
for his illegal business in Kenya.". [1] The Kiruki Commission does
not attribute political responsibility for the Kibaki government's
apparent tolerance of the activities of the Armenian brothers. Nor
does it report a finding on whether or not it was proper for the
Minister for Internal Security to direct the Armenians' deportation
instead of prosecuting them for criminal offences.
It also fails to connect the Armenians with a series of cocaine
shipments, worth close to 7 billion shillings, routed through Mombasa
and other Kenyan ports.
In the fallout from the Armenian affair, the Director of the Kenya
Police Criminal Investigation Department was suspended and subsequently
retired. Also leaving the public service were the Deputy Managing
Director of the Kenya Airports Authority, while it was announced
that Winnie Wangui Mwai was relieved of her position at the Ministry
of Water.
The Armenians now reside in Dubai, U.A.E. apparently evading
international arrest warrants and the combined clutches of Interpol
and the Kenya Police. Artur Magaryan claims to be writing his memoirs
of his time in Kenya, which he claims will reveal bribe-taking and
bribe-giving within the high echelons of Kenya's political elite. No
one has been prosecuted for any of the criminal acts identified by
the Kiruki Commission. [2]
Regardless, of official statements to the contrary, Winnie Wangui
Mwai has told the media that she remains in the public service. At
a personal level she also confirms her intended marriage to Artur
Magaryan, the more colourful of the two Armenian brothers.
Considering her purported ilk, any such marriage to Artur Magaryan
will be a politically significant event.
[1] See "Brothers in Armenia, Africa Confidential Volume 47 No. 21
[2] At the time of writing a joint parliamentary committee chaired
by Paul Muite and Ramadhan Kajembe was yet to table its report.
--Boundary_(ID_GvA6HS9B/ODDS2hmJ5bouA)--
African Path, MN
http://www.africanpath.com/p_blogEntry.cfm?blog EntryID=1699
July 24 2007
For much of the first half of 2006, a colourful pair of Armenian
brothers, Artur Magaryan and Artur Sargasyan (variously described as
possibly also being Russian or Czech nationals) amazed and shocked
Kenyans with their macho antics and apparent connections to the
highest office in the land.
They entered the national consciousness because of a weird dawn
press conference at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport called by a
Nairobi lawyer, Fred Ngatia. Ostensibly on his client's arrival from
Dubai, Ngatia told the press that the two Armenians would respond to
allegations; such as those of opposition Members of Parliament, Raila
Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka, claiming the Armenians were assassins
contracted to do harm to opposition politicians.
If its intention was to convince the press, and Kenyans, that the
Armenians were credible international businessmen, unfairly maligned
for political purposes by the opposition, then Ngatia's March 13,
2006 press conference was remarkably devoid of any prospect of success.
For example, as it turns out, the passenger manifest (faxed by
Ngatia to the press) for the Armenians' supposed carrier Kenya
Airways 311 from Dubai on March 13, was a crude forgery. The East
African Standard quotes an airline official as saying: "Neither the
name nor the passport number of the said man appears in our manifest
for flight number KQ311 from Dubai." As if that were not bad enough,
questions were immediately raised by the alert press as to the use of
the official Government of Kenya VIP Visitors Lounge, by Mr. Ngatia
for his clients, which had obviously been gained with the irregular
cooperation of top security, State House and airport officials. The
penny dropped when neither the Armenians nor their lawyer were able
to show the press flight boarding passes as evidence of their trip.
Opinion crystallised once Ngatia made the bizarre claim that he was
under instructions from the Government of Armenia to call the press
out to the Airport in the middle of the night to meet his clients.
The press duly reported the incredulous denial of the Government
of Armenia.
Thereafter, Artur Magaryan and his brother Artur Sargasyan, threw
lavish parties, drew guns, flashed cash and dropped the names of the
crème de la crème, amidst claims that they were mercenaries, hit-men,
drug dealers and arms traffickers. Most shocking, Artur Magaryan was
rumoured to be enamoured of the President's reputed daughter Winnie
Wangui Mwai; herself a controversial figure and the subject of no less
than 3 official government public communications since January 2004
stating that she is not the President's relative. On the first occasion
in January 2004, an unsigned press release from State House pointedly
delimited the President's family; a second addressed the press on
the membership of the presidential family; while a third recounted
Ms. Mwai's names as they appear in her national identity card.
The brothers' public antics infuriated a hostile Kenyan public, but
always bubbled over until June 2006 when they finally broke the bounds
of tolerance. A public outcry ensued following an incident at the
customs hall of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi,
during which the Artur brothers, in the company of a visiting group
of burly Armenians, assaulted Customs officers using guns in full
view of the Police, petrified travellers, and at least one cabinet
minister waiting in queue to enter Kenya. By the next evening, Kenyan
television ran a live broadcast of their deportation, on first class
government tickets to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
A couple of days later on June 16, President Kibaki instituted a
formal inquiry into their activities headed by a former Commissioner
of Police, Shadrack Kiruki and suspended several public officers from
duty for their various roles in the airport fracas. They were:
Joseph Kamau, the Director of the Kenya Police Criminal Investigation
Department - alleged to have illegally provided the Armenian group with
police rank status as Assistant Commissioners of Police Naomi Sidi, the
Deputy Managing Director of the Kenya Airports Authority - alleged to
have illegally provided the Armenians with Airport 'Access-All-Areas'
identification documents Winnie Wangui Mwai, an Assistant Secretary
in the Ministry of Water, who allegedly exploited her State House
connections to interfere with the arrest and subsequent deportation
of the Armenians Edward Kiptoo Mutai, Security Warden at the Kenya
Airports Authority Paul Latoya, a protocol officer with the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs Stephen Kipruto Tumbo, Senior Superintendent of
Police, OCPD Nairobi Division Chief Inspector Josephat Gikonyo- OCS
JKIA Police Station Inspector Daniel Maithya - CIVCRIME JKIA Police
Station Sgt. Evelyn Owon - JKIA Police Station Cpl. James Kimihu-
JKIA Police Station James Gitonga, Immigration officer I
After weeks of public hearings, it was clear there had been an
appalling system failure at the Companies Registry, Immigration
Department and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. For example,
Kenyans heard testimony from witnesses who calmly stated that there
were no recordings of the incident at the airport because the closed
circuit television security cameras in the customs and baggage
international arrivals hall did not work.
President Kibaki received the Inquiry Report in late August 2006. It
has never been made public, as promised. Nevertheless, various media
have described its contents and findings:
It uncovers a pattern of fraud and corruption in the customs,
immigration and police services, and also within the Kenyan political
elite.
It restates the findings of an Interpol investigation which concludes
that it is impossible to verify the true identities of inter alia Artur
Sargasyan and Artur Magaryan, because they are in possession of travel
documents reported stolen in Russia and Europe; further their company
(Brother Link International Company Limited) registration documents
in Kenya appear to be forgeries or at best obtained in contravention
of the law Its most explosive recommendation is for the prosecution
for tax evasion and corporate fraud of Winnie Wangui Mwai. It also
recommends her immediate dismissal from her civil service job in the
Ministry of Water.
It accuses the Armenians of drug smuggling and money laundering and
calls for their immediate arrest should they return to Kenya.
Specifically, it states that it believes that Sargasyan "was involved
in organized crime and drug smuggling and ... was seeking an outlet
for his illegal business in Kenya.". [1] The Kiruki Commission does
not attribute political responsibility for the Kibaki government's
apparent tolerance of the activities of the Armenian brothers. Nor
does it report a finding on whether or not it was proper for the
Minister for Internal Security to direct the Armenians' deportation
instead of prosecuting them for criminal offences.
It also fails to connect the Armenians with a series of cocaine
shipments, worth close to 7 billion shillings, routed through Mombasa
and other Kenyan ports.
In the fallout from the Armenian affair, the Director of the Kenya
Police Criminal Investigation Department was suspended and subsequently
retired. Also leaving the public service were the Deputy Managing
Director of the Kenya Airports Authority, while it was announced
that Winnie Wangui Mwai was relieved of her position at the Ministry
of Water.
The Armenians now reside in Dubai, U.A.E. apparently evading
international arrest warrants and the combined clutches of Interpol
and the Kenya Police. Artur Magaryan claims to be writing his memoirs
of his time in Kenya, which he claims will reveal bribe-taking and
bribe-giving within the high echelons of Kenya's political elite. No
one has been prosecuted for any of the criminal acts identified by
the Kiruki Commission. [2]
Regardless, of official statements to the contrary, Winnie Wangui
Mwai has told the media that she remains in the public service. At
a personal level she also confirms her intended marriage to Artur
Magaryan, the more colourful of the two Armenian brothers.
Considering her purported ilk, any such marriage to Artur Magaryan
will be a politically significant event.
[1] See "Brothers in Armenia, Africa Confidential Volume 47 No. 21
[2] At the time of writing a joint parliamentary committee chaired
by Paul Muite and Ramadhan Kajembe was yet to table its report.
--Boundary_(ID_GvA6HS9B/ODDS2hmJ5bouA)--