He Is My Sweetheart  

News

By Mwangi Maina

The daughter of renowned Narc activist, Mary Wambui yesterday broke her long silence over her association with the two deported Armenian brothers and disclosed that she would soon be wedding one of them.

Winnie Wangui, who also said she was a business associate of the two Armenian brothers, Artur Sargasyan and Artur Margaryan now wants the government to clear the duo of any wrong-doing in order to enable her marry her sweetheart, Artur Margaryan.

And Winnie, who has maintained a lengthy silence over the controversial Armenians, once described by Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga as mercenaries, believes her wedding with Margaryan would be the biggest ever in the country.

“It is going to be a grand wedding that would set a precedent. Everything is in top gear,” said Winnie, who has long been associated with a prominent political family in the country.

During her heydays as a senior Under Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Winnie was one of the officers described as untouchable and whose word would influence proceedings in the corridors of power.

Speaking on a local radio talk-show, Wangui said she has been in close contact with Margaryan since his deportation, adding that they have been meeting in undisclosed locations.

She defended the alleged Armenian brothers against accusations of involvement in criminal activities in the country, saying they were honest businessmen with whom she had business contacts through her Kensington company, and who were wrongfully hounded out of the country.

Asked about her relationship with President Mwai Kibaki and whether he would attend the intended wedding, Wangui declined to comment but instead sought to absolve the brothers from any wrong doing and maintained that Margaryan was her boyfriend and that she knew him as an honest and kind hearted man since meeting him in Dubai in early 2005 after being introduced to him and his brother by a family friend.

Winnie, speaking with nostalgia about her romantic escapades with Margaryan whom she has been frequently meeting , implored on the government to “accept the truth and reality that the Armenian duo were not criminals and allow them back in the country.”

She, however, refused to name the and place and dates of her meetings with her lover and instead replied; “What I can tell you is that I will have my name changed to Winnie Margaryan after the wedding.”

But denied that she was expecting Margaryan’s baby, but added that she was looking forward to the wedding and eventually spending her life with him here in Kenya.

“There have been speculations that I am expectant. Those are pure lies. The truth is that I have always desired to have children with Margaryan. Not only is he a handsome and generous man, but is so caring and romantic. I believe he will make a wonderful husband,” said Winnie.

Wangui, who was under probe by the Kiruki Commission appointed by the President last year to look into the Armenian brothers’s saga said her efforts to have them represented by lawyer Oscar Avedi were thwarted when the commission turned him away.

She described the period of the probe as one of the most trying moment in her life her as friends deserted her and some even called her names because of her association with the duo said to have been behind the Standard Group raid and other high profile crimes during their stay into he country.

‘But I have never known them to be criminals. These were honest and shrewd business people. That is why I even attempted to stop their deportation through a lawyer,” Winnie said.

The two burst into the national limelight in March last year after Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga accused them of being “mercenaries” used by the government to provide muscle for a raid on the Standard Group offices within the City centre, an act widely condemned around the world.

Margaryan and Sargasyan, whose real names are yet to be established, are believed to have been members of an elite unit within the Czech Army unit before being discharged disgracefully.

The brothers denied the claims, saying they were respectable businessmen wanting to invest in Kenya but they became virtual celebrities in following months, being seldom out of cartoons and gossip columns, and leading a swaggering life-style that included parties, luxury cars, flashy jewellery and trademark sunglasses.

The saga took a fresh twist with their dramatic deportation in early June last year after a scuffle at the Jomo Kenyatta International airport where they were said to have brandished guns at custom officials.

The fracas and their subsequent deportation led to the suspension of then CID director Joseph Kamau, Winnie Wangui, Edward Kiptoo Mutai (Security official, KAA), Paul Latoya , (Protocol officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs), James Gitonga (Immigration Officer 1), and Police officers — Stephen Kipruto Tumbo, Josephat Gikonyo, Daniel Maithya, Evelyn Owon and James Kimihu — Kenya Airports Police Unit (KAPU).

Police, who raided their posh Runda estate on the same day the brothers were deported recovered a stash of 500,000 US dollars (approximately Sh36 million) in their Runda residence.

Consequently, unfolding evidence presented at the Kiruki Commission proceedings also indicated that the Artur brothers, operating under Kensington International Company, could have defrauded the government of Sh116 million in unpaid duty for several containers packed with electronic goods they had imported through the port of Mombasa. Emerging details further indicated that the Armenian brothers were carrying a paltry 100 US dollars in their pockets at the time of their deportation though the subsequent search of their residence by police revealed they had 500,000 US dollars stashed away.

Evidence collected by police further pointed to the possible involvement of the Armenian duo in the KTN/ Standard raid, with balacavas, jackets of the elite Quick Response Team (QRT). A map of the I&M building which houses the raided media house was also found in their palatial house.

In constituting the Kiruki commission, President Kibaki categorically denied any involvement of the first family in the saga or relations with Wangui or her mother.

He said: “No member of my family has had any dealings with the said foreigners...I am, therefore, demanding that the newspaper should apologize to me and my family for the blatant lies.” Two lesser-known brothers were also deported. “The matter of their stay and transactions in Kenya is the subject of investigations,” Kibaki added. Fuelling concern at what they were doing, police said guns, machetes and bulletproof vests were recovered at the Armenians’ home.

To date, the government has remained mum on the recommendations by the Kiruki Commission.

Winnie’s latest revelations is likely to create a new dimension to the Artur brothers saga whose presence in the country caused anxiety, tension and dismissal of some high ranking government personalities. It was due to their activities in the country that led to the alleged sour relations between Police Commissioner Major General Hussein Ali and immediate director of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Joseph Kamau.

Soon after their deportation, it was reported in some quarters that intelligence sources had warned the government about the Arturs’ activities in the third week of March 2006, a whole three months before they infamously drew pistols on police and Customs officers at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, as they made nonsense of security requirement that entails declaration of, and inspection of luggage being brought into the country, setting the stage for their deportation on 11th May 2006.

Intelligence sources quoted by the reports had described Brothers Artur as “dangerous individuals ready to kill for the sake of money,”... and continues: “In view of the foregoing, Margaryan and Sargasyan are international criminals who have excelled in organized criminal activities. They are knowledgeable in mercenary acts, gun-running and drug trafficking.”

Equally puzzling were revelations that the Armenian duo, knew former drug baron, the late Ibrahim Akasha and that during their stay in the country, they frequented certain security quarters where the Sh 6.4 billlion cocaine had been stored before the haul was destroyed.

Our investigations sometimes last year established that the Arturs, may have been international criminals who had succeeded in infiltrating influential families, prominent government personalities and senior security officers.

It was also established that Margaryan was introduced to Narc activist Mary Wambui in 2005 by “a long time friend of the Armenians” and high flying city tycoon who reportedly together with Ms Wambui took care of the Arturs during their stay in the country.