A friend in the U.S. forwarded an open email to me tonight from Carolann and George Najarian, the Armenian-American philanthropists who were allegedly defrauded by a local associate in Armenia. For the past two years, the Najarians have been fighting a legal battle with Grigor Igityan who they claim swindled the couple out of as much as $500,000 while purchasing property for them.

However, the Najarian case has been persistently frustrated throughout that time and ironically enough, by the Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office itself. RFE/RL ran a story on the case last month as did ArmeniaNow on Friday.

Twice, investigation into the criminal complaint was suspended, due to “absence of criminal evidence”. But on April 16 the highest court of Armenia assessed a fraud case and recognized George Najarian as the aggrieved party and demanded that the Prosecutor General’s Office reopen its investigation — which it did, on May 18.

The April court decision was hailed by the Najarians as evidence that Armenia’s legal system can be trusted. Soon after that, however, the Najarians, were disillusioned upon learning that the investigation had been stopped again, on August 30.

“Now, it seems to be an endless process that might last for years and years,” says Najarian attorney Hrayr Ghukasyan. “Under Armenian law criminal inquiry can last an indefinite period. Thus, we understood that the Prosecutor’s office had adopted a different tactic – by means of dragging out the investigation to take it away from public sight. The end of this tactic was obvious – another suspension.”

Incidently, according to Igityan he managed to buy the property himself, working as a translator and saving up his earnings as he went (yeah, right, in a country where salaries are so low and where, if Igityan has really earned so much, he should probably now be prosecuted for tax evasion). Others privy to the case, however, allege that the General Prosecutor’s Office is dragging out proceedings because a relative of one of their most senior officials is also involved in the alleged swindle.

Obviously, in the email I received today, the Najarians are stunned at the continuing absurdity of the General Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepian, although to be fair, he seems generally more concerned with arranging circle dances around Aragats in the name of “national unity” when he’s not running an ice cream factory and taxi firm business. Well, it can’t be easy when the rule of law plays second fiddle to business.

When you read the ArmeniaNow.com piece note how Igityan has changed his story once more: he now claims to have paid for everything out of his own earnings as a translator (he has dropped the story about ! his wealth coming from inherited antiques); and, he admits to receiving money from us, but, he says, he distributed these funds to other people as we requested. […] The Prosecutor General hasn’t charged Igityan with shifting testimonies nor has he asked him about the $300,000 we paid directly to contractors, through another manager, after Igityan was removed from the project. How do they explain that? No one bothers to ask; the other manager has never been interviewed by the investigators.

As far as I am aware, the Najarians have the right to appeal to the U.S. Courts as a result of an agreement regarding investment between the U.S and Armenia. Considering Hovsepian’s political ambitions (he is rumored to be one potential “reliable candidate” for Kocharian to pass power on to in 2008), the increasing level of corruption and the lack of any rule of law in Armenia, I think it’s time that they did.

Even the Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, according to one of his staff, attempted to intervene and request from the President and Hovsepian that the rule of law work for once. However, those pleas appear to have fallen on deaf ears and when the name of the relative of the senior political figure alleged to be behind Igityan comes out I think you’ll all understand why…

Anyway, the Armenia Now article can be read online here.