HIGH COURT REFUSES TO FREE DEFIANT BUSINESSMAN
By Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 15 2007
Armenia’s Court of Appeals on Monday refused to grant bail to
a prominent businessman who spent nearly two years in prison on
controversial fraud charges and was acquitted by a lower court only
to be arrested again earlier this month.
Gagik Hakobian, the leading shareholder in the Royal Armenia coffee
company locked in a bitter dispute with the government, was taken
into custody immediately after returning to Armenia from Spain where
had reportedly undergone medical treatment since his sensational
acquittal last July.
Hakobian and Royal Armenia’s deputy director, Aram Ghazarian, had been
arrested and charged with tax evasion and fraud in October two years
ago after publicly accusing senior customs officials of corruption. A
Yerevan court of first instance found the accusations baseless and
freed the two men.
State prosecutors were quick to challenge the ruling at the Court
of Appeals. The latter issued an arrest warrant for Hakobian
last September, citing his failure to attend its hearings on the
high-profile case. The businessmen insists that he never intended to
flee the country and visited Spain to improve his health condition.
His lawyer, Ashot Sargsian, reiterated these arguments as he asked
the panel of three judges to free his client pending trial. Sargsian
emphasized the fact that Hakobian voluntarily returned to Armenia.
The presiding judge, Suren Ghazarian, rejected the petition, saying
that Hakobian could obstruct the trial and even go into hiding if set
free. He also dismissed a similar request filed by Armen Harutiunian,
the state human rights ombudsman.
Sargsian condemned the rebuff and demanded that Ghazarian be replaced
by another judge. The court rejected the demand.
Sargsian claimed that the judge presiding over appeals hearings can
not be objective because he fears meeting the fate of Pargev Ohanian,
the district court judge to acquitted the Royal Armenia men and now
looks set to be dismissed by President Robert Kocharian.
The Council of Justice, a powerful body overseeing the Armenian
judiciary, asked Kocharian on Friday to relieve Ohanian of his duties,
saying that he broke the law when adjudicating two dozen criminal
and civil cases. Although the Royal Armenia case is not among them,
Ohanian is widely believed to be paying the price for his surprise
July 16 ruling.
In a related development, Vache Petrosian, an Armenian-American
businessman who claims to be defrauded by Royal Armenia, alleged on
Monday that he believes Ohanian acquitted the two businessman in return
for a hefty bribe. He offered no proof of the allegation, though.
Petrosian’s fraud claims form part of the criminal case brought against
Hakobian and Aram Ghazarian by the National Security Service (NSS)
two years ago. The NSS says their company also illegally evaded than
1 billion drams ($3 million) worth of taxes and import duties.
Royal Armenia strongly denies the accusations, saying that they were
leveled in retaliation for its owner’s public allegations of high-level
corruption within the State Customs Committee.