Canadian goes on trial in Havana for corruption scandal

Posted on Thursday, 05.23.13



Canadian goes on trial in Havana for corruption scandal

By Julian Sher, Toronto Star And Juan O. Tamayo

jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com



When Sarkis Yacoubian walks into a court room in downtown Havana

Thursday to face corruption charges that could send him to prison for 12

years the Canadian businessman will have a high-powered diplomat keeping

a close eye on his trial — Canada's ambassador to Cuba.



As the Toronto Star revealed last week, Yacoubian, who ran a $30 million

transport and trading company called Tri-Star Caribbean, was indicted by

Cuban prosecutors in April on three counts of bribery, tax evasion and

"activities damaging to the economy."



After almost two years in custody without charges, Yacoubian's fate will

be decided by a panel of five judges in a trial that is expected to last

no longer than two days.



In an apparent signal about just how seriously Ottawa views the case,

the Department of Foreign Affairs this week informed Yacoubian's lawyers

in Canada that Ambassador Matthew Levin — who had visited Yacoubian at

least four times while he was in La Condesa prison on the outskirts of

Havana — will attend both days of the trial at the Havana Criminal

Court, along with the Consul General at the embassy.



"It is very rare for the ambassador to show up in a court room," said

Gar Pardy, a former director general of consular services for Canada.

"It sends a message to the Cuban authorities: this is a case of direct

interest to the government of Canada."



Yacoubian was arrested in July 2011 as part of Cuban Communist Party's

highly-charged political campaign against corruption. A second Canadian,

Cy Tokmakjian, who runs a rival transportation firm, was arrested in

September 2011 and remains in jail with no specific charges filed

against him.



Yacoubian told the Star in a series of lengthy jailhouse phone

interviews that he confessed and cooperated closely with his Cuban

interrogators, pointing the finger at what he called the "bigger crooks"

— a wide network of foreign companies engaged in widespread corruption

and bribery.



Yacoubian said he had hoped that his close cooperation with the Cubans

in exposing the web of corruption would help his case. "I was expecting

any time these things will clear up," he said.



But after nearly two years in detention, it has not happened.



"They expect me in court to say I am sorry and I will say that," he

said. "But I'm not going to lay quietly and be the victim."



His family says Yacoubian now plans to plead guilty only to the lesser

charge of bribery, which carries a five-year sentence, and not the more

serious counts of tax evasion and damage to the economy that could bring

seven and 12-year jail terms.



"Sarkis is ready for anything," said Krikor Yacoubian who has been in

almost daily contact by phone with his brother. "Sarkis is a guinea pig.

His trial will be a test of how Canada is going to react."



Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Emma Welford told the Star

that Ottawa will not comment on the case "to protect the privacy of the

individual concerned."



Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American

Studies at the University of Miami, said the government controls the

judicial system, "so you are at the mercy of a very horrible political

system."



Yacoubian's case was investigated by the powerful Agency for

Investigating Crimes against the Security of the State.



Prosecutors allege Yacoubian or his employees bribed Cuban officials

from a vast array of government departments — from the Ministries of

Construction, Transportation and Tourism to the government's

telecommunications monopoly — for advance information on government

purchases or to favor Tri-Star.



Krikor Yacoubian says his brother will plead guilty to the charges of

bribery, even though Sarkis insists he never initiated any payments but

was forced to give money to Cuban officials to keep contracts he had

already legitimately won.



"Sarkis never introduced payments in anyway," said Krikor Yacoubian. "He

had to pay." But he says his brother will "vehemently deny" the other

charges, which carry the heaviest sentences.



http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/23/3410962/canadian-goes-on-trial-in-havana.html