Dark Secrets of Armenian Brothers Begin to Emerge
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The East African Standard (Nairobi)
NEWS
June 29, 2006
Posted to the web June 28, 2006
By Biketi Kikechi
Nairobi
Details of the dark secrets of the Armenian brothers – which the
Government kept from Kenyans – started to emerge as the Kiruki
Commission began its sittings in Nairobi.
It emerged that since March 18, the Government knew that the Artur
brothers could be international crooks on the run with forged Armenian
passports. Even more shocking, the police knew that the man presenting
himself as Artur Margaryan could be a dangerous criminal using a
passport reportedly stolen in Armenia, making his real identity a mystery.
These damning revelations are in a report relayed to Nairobi by
Interpol. However, Kenyan police failed to act on the March 18 alert.
The details came out on Wednesday when Immigration minister Gideon
Konchella took to the stand at the Commission of Inquiry appointed by
President Kibaki to investigate the activities of Margaryan and Artur
Sargasyan.
They point to the fact that the Government knew all along that the
Armenians were questionable characters, even as its own officials put
out statements variously defending the duo as investors, consultants and
law-abiding citizens. The Government, heavily criticised for bungling
the affair, instantly found itself on the receiving end only moments
after the proceedings started.
International criminals
Konchella, who has displayed remarkable inconsistency every time he has
spoken on the Armenian saga, slipped deeper into the vortex of
contradiction when he admitted the duo were criminals.
"All I can say is that these were dubious international criminals," he
told the inquiry sitting at the Kenyatta International Conference
Centre, Nairobi. The minister said Kenyan passports recovered from the
Arturs’ house in Runda were stolen from the Immigration offices at Nyayo
House.
Assisting Counsel Dorcas Oduor gave Konchellah evidence to show that the
Kenya Revenue Authority also allocated them Personal Identification
Numbers for civil servants.
Interpol wrote another letter to their Kenyan counterparts dated April
3, which read in part: "Please be informed that we have all the grounds
to think that the person who presented himself as Margaryan Artur in
your country is, in fact, another person who uses the passport of Artur
Margaryan which got lost in 2002".
The Kenyan passports were registered in the names of Sargasyan Arman
number A1031195 and Sargasyan Arturk A 1031196, with both Armenians
describing themselves as Kenyans.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Konchella admitted that the two brothers
were deported to Dubai instead of their country of origin.
Contents from the Interpol letters showed that the Armenian authorities
were particularly keen to know whether any criminal proceedings had been
preferred against the brothers. At one point, Interpol expressed
surprise that no action had been taken against the duo.
Interpol report
The letter from Interpol Yerevan read in part: "It is therefore
surprising that no action was taken against the alleged crook since
March when Kenyan police were furnished with photographs of the real
Artur Margaryan".
Former Police Commissioner Shedrach Kiruki chairs the three-man
commission. The other members are Bishop Horace Etemesi and lawyer Ahmed
Hassan Issak.
Taking Konchella through the evidence-in-chief, Oduor sought to know the
requirements for entry and exit in Kenya, visa application, passports,
work permits, citizenship and deportation. Konchella said he first
learned about the Armenian saga on March 14, while working in western Kenya.
"The journalists asked me who they were and my response was that they
could have been Czechs or from some eastern European country but I
clarified five days later when my officers told me they were actually
Armenians," said Konchella.
He said that according to records at the Immigration Department, the two
were consultants in marketing, business development and finance.
Konchella was given the Interpol report, which contained details that
the real Artur Margaryan was born on January 15, 1973, in Yerevan city,
Armenia. He is holder of Armenian passport number 0631173 issued on
October 11, 2002, given to him after he lost his first passport number
0322223 issued in Sokhi City, Russian Federation.
Deportation order
Interpol said Artur had never been to Africa or Kenya and was at the
time, March 18, living in Armenia.
Armenian police said Artur Sargasyan also lived in Yerevan before
relocating to the United Arab Emirates with his family.
They had no relationship with the Armenian prime minister, a claim made
by their alleged namesake in Kenya. They provided Kenyan police with
pictures of the real Margaryan and Sargasyan for comparison with the
persons who were introducing themselves by those names.
"Inform us whether a criminal case is instituted against the persons in
subject, the accusations and details of the case," demanded the Interpol
office in Armenia.
They expressed concern because the mass media in their country was
already in possession of stories about the alleged mercenaries from
their country. Konchella said Immigration officers issued passports and
other documents like work permits.
He said he did not know much about the Armenians until he signed their
deportation order on June 9, 2006.
"I dealt with their case again on June 9, 2006, when the Principal
Immigration Officer called to tell me that the Commissioner of Police
had demanded the deportation of four people.
Konchella said he complied and signed the order on the same day because
the law allows him to deport anyone considered undesirable.
Oduor then demanded to know why his deportation order said they were
Armenians yet they were deported to Dubai.
Excerpts of the proceedings:
Oduor: Look at your order, it says they were Armenians and yet they were
deported to Dubai, do you see that?
Konchella: I authorised that according to Section 8 (1) F and I also
later learned from the Principal Immigration Officer that they had
requested to be deported to Dubai.
Oduor: Did you confirm that they came from Dubai?
Konchella: Yes, we learned from reliable information that they actually
lived there.
Oduor: What about Alexander Pack and Dimitri Tasch?
Konchella: Alexander was to be deported to Russia while Dimitri was to
be deported to Moldovia.
Oduor: Our information is that they were also deported to Dubai, is that
right?
Konchella: I was told that they all requested to be transferred to Dubai.
Oduor: Is it also true that Margaryan left on a different passport and
not the one he used when coming to the country?
Kiruki: Can the minister answer that?
Oduor: I just want him to tell the commission if he was aware but if
not, he is free to say so.
Kiruki: The minister may not know that.
Oduor: Yes, that is true, but I just want to hear if he knew.
Konchella: Yes, I’m aware that one had a passport and the other didn’t have.
Oduor: What about their Tanzanian bodyguards?
Konchella: I heard they were taken to the border and handed over to
Tanzanian police.
Oduor: Did you sign their deportation order?
Konchella: I did not sign and they were not deported. They were just
escorted to the border by police and sent away.
Oduor: What about the two Kenyan passports recovered from their house in
Runda?
Konchella: Yes, I heard that the passports were recovered from their
house in Runda.
Oduor: Look at the first passport, the names are Arman Sargasyan number
A1031195, did you see it?
Konchella: No, this is the first time I’m seeing that but they are
genuine Kenyans passports. I did not sign them. These were forged documents.
Oduor: Let us look at the second passport and the name there is Arturk
Sargasyan number A1031196 and again he describes himself as a Kenyan and
his place of birth as Russia.
Konchella: They are genuine Kenyan passports, but what I can say is that
three passports got lost from the Immigration Department. We reported
the matter to all border points, and circulated information to our
foreign missions and other agencies on May 2. One of those passports is
still missing.