I

Update April 27: I'm writing to clear any confusion about where we stand with our case at this point: on April 22 Armenia's highest court, the Court of Appeals, denied the appeal of the Prosecutor General asking the court to overturn two lower court rulings which found that this is a criminal case and not a civil matter. That is, the courts agree that our case is not a dispute between partners where one wants a little more than the other and where the court is asked to make a decision. The courts agree with us that this is a criminal case 'a case of fraud of the highest order. It seems pretty clear to us with three courts having decided the case is criminal what needs to happen next, but the Prosecutor General still does not want to even name the criminal! The four judges who denied the Prosecutor General's appeal were very brave indeed – they were put under a lot of pressure by that office. They resisted! Bravo for being independent!

On April 8 I went to Armenia to both check on our projects and to be present at the Court of Appeals ( Armenia’s highest court ) hearing. The hearing on the appeal by the Prosecutor General: the courts have ruled the case is criminal, but the Prosecutor General insists it is civil and thus appealed the Court of Review decision to the Court of Appeals, also known as the Court of Cassation. (To review: we claim Igityan committed fraud on many counts – among them -- the construction costs, the privatization in his name, and the claim of putting money into the project. We have no case in civil court because there is no partnership agreement or similar arrangements between Igityan and George; Igityan’s claims that he put money into the project are false and were confirmed to be false by Armenian courts during this procedure. Thus, as all of the courts now agree, even though there might be some civil aspects to the case, these are negligible; this is a criminal case.)

On April 22, exactly at 11:00 am, four judges entered the large and totally filled courtroom and took their seats high up on the bench. One of the judges presented the case and read the appeal submitted by the Prosecutor General’s Office. Next the judges asked the prosecutor who signed the appeal to elaborate his position. The prosecutor referred to investigator Nadirian to present their case. The prosecutor fumbled – they pressed him. Their questions were to the point.

Judge: By what right did Igityan privatize these properties in his name?
Nadirian: We have all of the documents that show he privatized…… (judge interrupts)
Judge: We know all that – we’ve seen these documents. I asked you by ‘what right’ did he do this?
Nadirian: …..ah…..he put money….
Judge: Where did he get the money?
Nadirian: …. He had inherited wealth from his in-laws….. (he tries to explain but the judges are clearly annoyed by the inadequate explanation. They ask is Igityan is present to explain. Suddenly, Igityan himself steps forward and starts….)

Igityan: My mother-in-law’s home was on the very ground that this court house was built. Yes, this very courthouse. They were wealthy people. They left my wife paintings and rugs from the 18 th and 19 th c. (He goes on to explain that he sold these through a middleman.)
Judge: Who painted these paintings?
Igityan: I don’t remember.
Judge: Where are the documents of the sales? To whom did you sell them? Where is the middleman?
Igityan: I don’t have any documents – the middleman died! (At this point the courtroom is filled with laughter).

The judges told Igityan to sit down saying they don’t want to hear any more from him. Igityan took a seat right next to the investigators – as if they were his attorneys. ( I might add they all lied to the judges – all would have been charged with perjury in the US. I don’t know what the rules are in Armenia.)

The judges were clearly very well familiar with all of the details of the case. They asked, for example, “At what point did the relationship between Najarian and Igityan begin to go sour?” The answer given by our attorney was, “After another construction manager entered the project and began finding a lot of irregularities.” Then the judges asked Nadirian “How do you explain that Igityan, to whom you say the properties belong to, was dismissed from controlling the construction activities after those irregularities were found? Do you mean to say that the owner was dismissed from building his own properties by someone else?” Nadirian failed to provide anything.

Next, the judge asked Nadirian to explain why a person, such as George Najarian who has done so much for Armenia, would want to take property that wasn’t rightfully his. Nadirian was unable to answer. The judge also asked if the investigators had documented all the Najarian’s had done – did they have a dollar amount? The answer was, “No.”

Our turn came -- more hard hitting questions all centering on why this is a criminal case – a case of outright fraud. The judges did not want to hear our attorneys prepared statement. They had their own questions they wanted answered – questions about the transfer of funds, the humanitarian work, the receipts Igityan had given, etc. Our criminal lawyer, Hrair Ghougasian was put to the test. He answered when the Chief Justice used a medical analogy, why this case could not be handled with ‘medical therapy’ instead of surgery – Hrair answered, ‘The time for medical therapy is long past; what is needed now is the surgeon’s knife…” and he went on to explain why.

After about ½ hour all toll, the judges left the courtroom. Within fifteen minutes they filed back in as we all scrambled back to our places – very anxious about what they might have decided. The Chief Justice pounded the gavel and said, “Appeal Denied.” The observers burst into applause and shouts of joy. Bravo to the judges! Bravo for having heard the case fairly and for resisting the pressures that we know were put on them.Bravo! Bravo!

After the hearing I held a press conference at the Marriott with my two attorneys. Reports followed on Armenia TV, channel 1, and on the internet (see www.ArmeniaNow.com, www. armenialiberty.am) and radio. Prior to the hearing there were articles on www.hetq.am by Edik Baghdasaryan, reprinted by Azg and another article in Azg by journalist Bakur Karapetyan.

That’s where we are: three courts have confirmed the case is criminal. BUT – the Prosecutor General as of the moment of this writing has declined to take action and prosecute the case. We are filing an appeal with him to do so immediately. All three levels of Armenia’s courts, which were were forced by the Prosecutor General to go through the process of reviewing our case, confirmed that there is no legal ground to avoid prosecuting the criminal. Interestingly, the courts’ decisions all cite the evidence which the investigators themselves gathered as the basis for their judgments.

It isn’t clear either as to when the Prosecutor General will understand that the longer this goes on, the more public opinion is mounting against his office.

Thus – we keep winning in court on appeal, but we haven’t won anything --yet!

Carolann Najarian