TWO ARMENIAN BROTHERS IN CENTER OF POLITICAL SCANDAL IN KENYA

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 15 2006

NAIROBI, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Artur Sargsian
and Artur Margarian, whom the international media and the Kenyan
press present as brothers, found themselves in the center of a
political scandal that broke in Kenya this week. According to Radio
Liberty, Reyla Odinga – one of the leaders of the Kenyan opposition –
accused the Armenian brothers of acting as hirelings of the Kenyan
authorities for attacking the media. Both Sargsian and Margarian
denied the accusations.

They convened a press conference early this week at the airport of the
Kenyan capital of Nairobi and stated: “We are not hirelings, but even
if we were, your government would not have enough money to hire us.”

The brothers also claimed that they are relatives of the Armenian
President Robert Kocharian.

Artur Sargsian said that he is a candidate for the post of the RA
president, and that he runs a gold and precios stone business in Asia
and Africa.

According to the German DPA agency, Artur Sargsian also claimed
that the opposition leader Odinga has borrowed one and a half
million dollars from him, so that the opposition can pass a vote of
nonconfidence to the government of the Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki
in the parliament.

The mysterious story of the two Armenian brothers received extensive
coverage in the Kenyan press.