Cuba Tries UK Co. Directors for Corruption

HAVANA TIMES — A Cuban court today opened a trial against two directors of a UK company detained since 2011 on charges of corruption on the island, a week after holding a similar process against a Canadian citizen.

A court in Havana’s Diez de Octubre municipality opened a trial Thursday morning against business executives Amado Fakhre and Stephen Purvis, of the British Coral Capital Group.

Both are accused of corruption and economic crimes. Fakhre and Purvis were arrested in October 2011, in an operation which closed the Coral Capital offices in Havana. The British company had been operating for many years especially in the tourist sector of the island.

Officials and the government controlled media have provided no information. Alongside Fakhre, executive director of Coral Capital, and Purvis, chief operating officer of the company, standing trial today are six Cuban nationals.

Last Thursday another closed-door trial was held against Sarkis Yacoubian, a Canadian businessman and director of Tri-Star Caribbean, also on corruption charges.

It is expected that the court ruling in all these cases with be forthcoming within a few weeks.

The government of Raul Castro has made fighting corruption one of its main efforts. Several Cuban officials have been convicted of such crimes in recent years.

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