Saturday, February 21, 2015

Castro regime releases Canadian executive but keeps $100 million in company assets

Profits for me and high risks for you
Cy Tokmakjian: Left Canadian taxpayers holding a 100 million tab
Reuters, AP, and CBC are reporting that Canadian automobile executive Cy Tokmakjian is back home in Canada after spending three years unjustly imprisoned in Cuba and following a show trial on September 28, 2014 in which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. (He is not the only Western executive to undergo the experience). 

Reuters also reported that:
[the Castro regime] seized about $100 million worth of company assets including bank accounts, inventory and office supplies, a ruling the company was challenging in international arbitration.
No immediate reason was given for the sudden release of Tokmakjian, whom Cuba had previously hailed as a model business partner over 20 years for supplying crucial transportation equipment during a severe economic crisis after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
 According to the Associated Press:
Tokmakjian family says his prosecution was an excuse to seize his Ontario-based Tokmakjian Group's $100 million in assets in Cuba.
Taxpayer dollars underwrite Canada's trade with Cuba. Peter Foster in The Financial Post on September 30, 2014 concluded his OpEd stating, "let’s also stop taxpayer backing for Cuban trade and investment. And let’s hope all those Canadian tourists who flock to Cuba every year give a passing thought to what their dollars are supporting."

The Tokmakjian reaped took the risk and reaped the benefits for 20 years and when the Castro regime pulled the plug, its Canadian taxpayers assuming the risk and left holding the bag.

This is the formula agri-business and the Chamber of Commerce want for US companies involved in US-Cuba trade but prefer that US taxpayers learn about it after the fact.

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