The Dangers of Business

One of the particularly troubling aspects of conducting business in Cuba, as several foreign businessmen and women have already discovered, is maneuvering through the exceedingly unpredictable minefield of Castro-era politics.

“Although the perceived level of corruption has traditionally been far lower in Cuba than in other Latin American countries, it remains a considerable systemic problem,” the report read.

The government’s unfettered role in business allows Cuba a level of control Western companies are unlikely to feel comfortable with; but it’s the price of doing business with the state, as Cy Tokmakjian, founder of the Concord, Ontario-based the Tokamkjian Group, learned this past year.

For nearly 20 years the Tokmakjian group had been doing business with Cuba, selling transportation, mining and construction equipment, raking in annual sales topping $80 million. But according to Reuters, in 2011, Cy Tokamkjian, along with 16 others, was detained on accusations of “bribery, fraud, tax evasion and falsifying bank documents.”

For three years, Tokmakjian sat in detention awaiting trial with little understanding of his crimes or the evidence against him. And in September 2014, after his long awaited hearing, the 74 year old was sentenced to 15 years in prison, the news source said. Following the conviction and Cuba’s seizing of $100 million worth of Tokmajian assets, the company released a statement mocking the case’s legitimacy, calling it a “travesty of justice.”

Were Tokmakjian’s story a stray glacier in an otherwise calm sea, his experience might be chalked up to bad luck, but the truth is it’s only one of many. In 2011, The Economist reported that Amado Fakhre, head of Coral Capital Group, an investment fund, was detained on similarly vague charges of corruption; his partner, Stephen Purvis, was arrested five months later. In 2013, The Telegraph reported that both Fakhre and Purvis had been released, but the details surrounding their captivity were and still are being heavily guarded.

“The sad thing is, I’ll probably never be able to go back to Cuba now, even though I love the place,” Purvis told The Telegraph after returning to London. “They just don’t understand business yet, and in the long-term that’s going to be bad for them.”