TORONTO (AP) — A Canadian businessman who served 2 1/2
years of a 9-year prison sentence in Cuba for corruption has abruptly
returned to Canada.
Sarkis Yacoubian, president of Tri-Star
Caribbean import company, said Saturday that he’s extremely happy and
excited to be home in Toronto. However, he says he is still adjusting
after he was given only 24 to 48 hours’ notice before his release.
Yacoubian
was arrested in 2011 by Cuban authorities but was not formally charged
until April 2013 with bribery, tax evasion and "activities damaging to
the economy." He said that because he was expelled from Cuba, he is not
subject to transfer conditions that would require him to serve the rest
of his sentence in Canada.
"I can’t discuss on what grounds I was
expelled," said the 53-year-old Yacoubian. "When somebody goes to jail,
most of them claim that they were innocent. It’s not only the facts that
support this for me, but official recognition that supports this," he
said.
"I’m still confused. They released me, 24-48 hours’ notice, I
still don’t know exactly how this whole thing happened. I’m trying to
figure out what happened, who had interest behind it, which were the
organizations or companies that did what they did to me. So it’s just 48
hours. The decision, nobody knew that. They just said we’re going to
let you out," Yacoubian told The Associated Press from his mother’s home
in Toronto.
He said that he is willing to share his story but
wants to consult with his lawyers, who he said are currently on
vacation, before he provides further details about what he calls a "very
interesting, exciting story."
"I want to be properly vindicated
on the highest level once the facts are there. I’ve already been
officially vindicated, but I just can’t tell you how, but it’ll come out
in the next two weeks," he said.
Yacoubian, who is Armenian, was
born in Lebanon, where he studied international relations before coming
to Montreal to earn his MBA at McGill University. He then ventured to
Cuba, where he spent about 20 years. There, he partnered with the Cuban
government on multiple ventures.
"(I developed) probably the third
or fourth largest company (in Cuba). I started with $3,000 and that’s
where I got millions of dollars of credit from factories, and all my
money was confiscated, so there’s a story behind the story," he said.
Two
months after Yacoubian’s arrest, authorities raided another
Canadian-run company, the Tokmakjian Group, one of the largest foreign
operations in Cuba. Cy Tokmaakjian, 73, was arrested September 2011. He
remains in Cuba’s La Condesa prison with no charges filed.
Peter
Kent, Tokmakjian’s Member of Parliament, told The Toronto Star that
Yacoubian’s release had been expected, but that the news that he was
back in Canada came as a relief.
Kent said that his greater
concern was for Tokmakjian, who has spent two years imprisoned and in
frail health. Kent said that Canadian government representatives "have
on a number of occasions asked the Cuban authorities to either take him
to court, lay charges or release him. And that continues to be our
position . . . and that hasn’t happened."
President Raul Castro has said that rooting out rampant corruption is one of the country’s most important
challenges.
Dozens
of Cuban government officials and state company executives have been
imprisoned for graft, while more than 150 foreign businesspeople and
scores of small foreign companies have been kicked out of the country.
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