The Standard (Nairobi) Kenya
June 10, 2006
Brothers’ stay in Kenya shrouded in secrecy
By Ben Agina
The Armenian brothers at the centre of mercenary allegations have
been in the news since March.
A sample of one of the vehicles the brothers own
After endless speculations about their mysterious presence in the
country, the two foreigners were yesterday bound to exit as
dramatically as they entered, after it emerged that they were to be
deported.
The two came into the limelight after Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga
claimed that there were mercenaries in the country, shortly after the
police raid on the Standard Media Group premises on March 2.
Raila later named a physical address in Nairobi’s upmarket Runda
area, claiming that that was where the mercenaries lived with the
support of the Government.
But Artur Margaryan and Artur Sargysan later held a conference at the
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport VIP lounge, where they denied
that they were mercenaries.
They further made a sensational claim that that they had loaned Raila
Sh100m and also met Mwingi North MP Kalonzo Musyoka.
The most sensational revelation was that the brothers jointly owned a
company with the daughter of Narc activist, Mary Wambui.
The Standard exclusively reported that Ms Winfred Wangui was one of
the five shareholders of Kensington Holding Limited, alongside
Margaryan and Sargysan.
The company records indicated that the other shareholders were Alois
Otieno Omitta, believed to be Wambui’s personal assistant, and a Mr
Julius Maina Mwangi. At one time, Artur Margaryan refused to allow
police into his rented house and rebuffed their attempts to persuade
him to record a statement.
Margaryan and one of his nine dogs that he imported from Dubai
He told the eight police officers that they should either arrest him
or produce a search warrant before he could comply.
The police left the house after they received a telephone call from a
senior officer, ordering them to return to their base, raising
further questions, as to who was “protecting” the aliens.
The police had wanted Margaryan to accompany them so that Nairobi
Deputy provincial CID chief, Isaiah Osugo, who had been appointed by
Police Commissioner, Major-General Hussein Ali, to investigate the
mercenary claim, could interrogate him.
The Orange Democratic Movement accused the Government of providing
security to the Armenians, whom they alleged were international
criminals. There was outrage when it emerged that the Armenians had
been chauffeured to JKIA in two Government vehicles guarded by two
outriders to conduct a “stage-managed” press conference.
They were sneaked in through Gate 1 and later disguised to appear as
if they had just landed at the airport before addressing journalists.
The brothers, at one point claimed, that they would launch an
ambitious slum-grading project in the city.
During another dramatic moment, police saved Artur Margaryan from a
lynch mob in the streets of Nairobi.
He had just left the Standard/KTN offices at I&M Tower Building, on
Kenyattaa Avenue, after addressing a press conference, denying once
again that he was a mercenary.
But as he waited for a chauffeured car to pick him up, an angry crowd
confronted him and began chanting: “Mercenary! Mercenary! Mwizi!
Mwizi! (Thief! Thief)”, forcing him to jump over guard rails along
Kenyatta Avenue to escape.