EX-ARMENIAN CONSUL ARRESTED IN LA DOCUMENT PROBE

armradio.am
29.07.2009 12:08

A former Armenian consul, a prior consular employee and an immigration
attorney have been arrested after a two-year investigation into an
alleged document scam aimed at helping immigrants avoid deportation,
AP reports.

Norair Ghalumian, who served as consul in Los Angeles from 1999 to
2003, and four other people are accused of obtaining and selling
letters to immigrants facing deportation to help block their removal
to Armenia, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.

The letters stated that Armenia would not issue a travel document
for the immigrants, essentially preventing the U.S. government from
sending them to Armenia, ICE officials said in a written statement.

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the defendants sold at least
two dozen letters and acted independently of each other. She said
officials continue to investigate the letters, which were sold for
as much as $35,000 each.

Ghalumian, 52, of Burbank, and the other defendants are charged with
obstructing ICE proceedings, which carries a maximum penalty of five
years in prison, the statement said.

The other defendants, according to the statement, are Hakop Hovanesyan,
54, of Glendale, a former consular employee; Margarita Lazarian, 41,
of Glendale, an immigration attorney; Oganes Nardos, 36, of Valencia;
and Elvis Madatyan, 47, of Glendale.

Lazarian, Hovanesyan, Ghalumian and Madatyan were released on
bail. Nardos’ hearing was continued until Aug. 7, said Thom Mrozek,
a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

Hovanesyan’s attorney Mark Werksman said the charges against his client
were unfounded and would be challenged in court. Lazarian’s attorney
Shepard Kopp declined to discuss details of the case, but said his
client says she’s innocent. Nardos’ wife deferred to him for comment.

Attempts to reach Ghalumian and Madatyan were not immediately
successful.

Court papers describe how the defendants allegedly told undercover
agents they could buy a so-called "letter of refusal" denying a
deportee’s return to Armenia.

The agents paid the contacts and were promised letters, which in some
cases were arranged by an unnamed contact in Armenia, according to
a criminal complaint. In other cases, an official who worked at the
consulate in Los Angeles between 2004 and 2008 made the arrangements.

According to one of the complaints, Lazarian told an undercover agent
that once a letter was issued, a deportee would likely be released
from custody under ICE’s supervision and granted work authorization.

She told the agent she didn’t make a profit from getting the letters
and usually did so hoping they would later become her clients. Other
defendants negotiated a commission for themselves, court papers showed.

Grigor Hovhannissian, who became Armenia’s consul general in Los
Angeles earlier this year, said he was shocked by the arrests.

He said he expected Armenian officials would probe the matter and
collaborate closely with U.S. officials in their investigation.

"These allegations affect the standing of our country, something
which we cannot compromise," Hovhannissian said.

Hovhannissian said there are times when Armenia may decline to
accept a deportee, but only in a small percentage of cases when a
person is a citizen of another country in the region. That, he said,
is determined after extensive research.

ICE said some of the deportees who purchased the letters had been
convicted of felonies.

The agency arrested the defendants Monday night and Tuesday
morning. Agents found additional refusal letters and official consular
stationary during searches of a travel agency operated by Hovanesyan
and of Lazarian and Nardos’ homes, ICE’s statement said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress