Former Cuban Vice-Minister Faces 20-Year Sentence

Former Cuban Vice-Minister Faces 20-Year Sentence

July 1, 2014

By Café Fuerte



HAVANA TIMES — The trial of Canadian businessman Vahe Cy Tokmakjian,

accused of corruption, traffic of hard currency and tax evasion in Cuba,

ended with a guilty verdict and a petition to incarcerate former Cuban

vice-minister Nelson Ricardo Labrada for 20 years, Cuban government

authorities reported.



According to a note published by Cuba's official newspaper Granma,

during the trial, held at Havana's Provincial Court from June 9 to 21,

charges were brought against Tokmakjian, Canadian businessmen Marco

Vinicio Puche Rodriguez and Claudio Franco Vetere, as well as against 14

high Cuban government officials and executives.



The press note is the first official statement about the Tokmakjian case

and the proceedings against him published in Cuba.



According to the report, charges of bribery, acts damaging of the

economy and employment, falsification of bank and commercial

instruments, fraud, traffic of hard currency and tax evasion were

brought against the 17 accused.



Considerable Financial Damage



"The Attorney General's Office of Cuba accused Vahe Cy Tokmakjian of

using fraudulent and corrupt mechanisms to secure benefits in

negotiations with Cuban entities, causing considerable financial damage

to our economy, acting as a financial intermediary without due

authorization, taking large sums of money out of the country illegally,

altering account books and sworn statements with a view to evading tax

obligations and making monetary payments to several employees who

performed duties different from those legally authorized or who had not

been hired by domestic companies," the official note explained.



The prosecution asked for a 15 year prison sentence for Tokmakjian,

president of the Tokmakjian Group, and a 20 year conviction for Labrada

Fernandez, who served as vice-minister of Cuba's former Ministry of

Sugar until his arrest in September of 2011.



The other Cuban officials implicated in the crimes (for whom the

prosecution requested between 8 and 12 years in prison) are:



1. Manuel Heriberto Fernandez Santiesteban (Ministry of Sugar)



2. Leonardo Fidel Delgado Dorta (Ministry of Sugar)



3, Jorge Luis Machado Perez (Ministry of Sugar)



4. Jose René Rubio Escobar (Ministry of Sugar)



5. Alberto Cirilo Panton Grahan ( former general manager of Cubaniquel)



6. Ernesto Gomez Cumplido (former president of Ferroníquel Minera S.A.)



7. Fidel Penin Oliva (former Ministry of Basic Industry)



8. Jorge Luis Melo Reyes (former president of the Asociación Economica

Internacional CISTUR, attached to the Ministry of Tourism)



9. Edmundo Javier Cabrera Díaz (Tokmakjian Group branch in Cuba)



10. Antonio Gilí Gonzaez (Tokmakjian Group branch in Cuba)



11. Boris Ernesto Barber Velis (Tokmakjian Group branch in Cuba)



12. Armando Enrique Martinez Ganfo (Tokmakjian Group branch in Cuba)



13. Elsa Fernandez Proenza (Tokmakjian Group branch in Cuba)



During the proceedings, the prosecution called the foreign companies

Tokmakjian Group Inc; Tokmakjian Limited, C.Y.M.C. and Tokmakjian

International Inc. to the stand as liable third parties.



According to the report, the declarations of the accused and numerous

items of evidence, testimonies and statements by experts of the Treasury

Inspector's Office, the National Tax Administration Bureau (ONAT) and

the Ministry for Foreign Trade and Investment were considered during the

oral hearing.



The prosecution also asked the court to request that the accused pay

over US $91 million for damages caused to several Cuban entities and

ONAT. This sum will be covered, in part, with the assets and money

confiscated from Tokmakjian and his companies during the proceedings.



Sentencing



The proceedings have concluded and the court will hand down the

sentences in the coming days. The information on the Tokmakjian case

published by the press sets it apart from the trial of another important

Canadian businessman, Sarkis Yacoubina, tried and convicted to nine

years in prison on similar charges (and released this past February).

The trial of Yacoubian was not reported on by Cuba's official media.



Tokmakjian, 74 years old and of Armenian origin, has been under arrest

since September of 2011, after Cuban State Security agents seized and

shut down the locales of his firm on the fourth floor of the Barcelona

building at Havana's Miramar Trade Center.



In April of 2013, during investigations, the Cuban government officially

shut down the operations of the Tokmakjian Group, one of the largest

foreign companies to have operated in Cuba over the past 25 years.



Based in Ontario, Canada, the Tokmakjian Group was second only to

Sherrit International in terms of the scope of its financial operations

in Cuba. It took in some US $ 80 million annually through the sale of

construction and mining equipment.



The company was also Hyundai's exclusive distributor in Cuba and had

partnered up with two other companies to replace the engines of

Soviet-era equipment on the island.



The Tokmakjian Group has filed a suit against the Cuban government

before the Supreme Court of Justice of Ontario, Canada. The company

alleges that the assets of the Tokmakjian Group were confiscated

illegally and accuses Cuban authorities of interfering in the company's

commercial dealings with its clients.



Source: "Former Cuban Vice-Minister Faces 20-Year Sentence - Havana

Times.org" - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=104584