Friday, January 10, 2014

ΗΠΑ: Ανακοινώθηκε η αποχώρηση της Ινδής διπλωμάτη

H Ντεβγιανί Κχομπραγκαντέ, η Ινδή διπλωμάτις, η οποία κατηγορείται για απάτη από τις αρχές της Νέας Υόρκης και είχε συλληφθεί τον περασμένο Δεκέμβριο, ανακοινώθηκε πως αποχωρεί τελικά από τη χώρα, όπως της είχε ζητηθεί λίγες ώρες νωρίτερα.
Υπενθυμίζεται πως η σύλληψή της στα μέσα Δεκεμβρίου προκάλεσε ρήξη στις σχέσεις Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών και Ινδίας.


Ένας Αμερικανός κυβερνητικός αξιωματούχος ο οποίος ανακοίνωσε ότι οι ΗΠΑ της ζήτησαν να εγκαταλείψει το αμερικανικό έδαφος, δήλωσε παράλληλα ότι η Ουάσινγκτον αποδέχθηκε το αίτημα της Ινδίας να πιστοποιήσει την διπλωμάτη, στα Ηνωμένα Έθνη αλλά μετά το κατηγορητήριο που ασκήθηκε εναντίον της ζήτησε από το Νέο Δελχί να άρει την διπλωματική ασυλία που της παρείχε. Η Ινδία αρνήθηκε το σχετικό αίτημα, με αποτέλεσμα η Ουάσιγκτον να ζητήσει την άμεση αναχώρησή της από το αμερικανικό έδαφος, όπως ανέφερε ο αξιωματούχος.

Σε επιστολή που συνοδεύει το σχετικό κατηγορητήριο η εισαγγελία του Μανχάταν, είπε αρχικά ότι η Κχομπραγκαντέ, είχε εγκαταλείψει τη χώρα αλλά σύμφωνα με τον δικηγόρο της δεν έχει φύγει και «είναι στο σπίτι με τα παιδιά της».

Για το θέμα δεν υπήρξε άμεσο σχόλιο από την ινδική πρεσβεία στην Ουάσιγκτον ή την αποστολή της χώρας στα Ηνωμένα Έθνη. Η σύλληψη της Κχομπραγκαντέ, η οποία ήταν αναπληρώτρια γενική πρόξενος στη Νέα Υόρκη, στις 12 Δεκέμβρη προκάλεσε αντίποινα από την κυβέρνηση της Ινδίας κατά Αμερικανών διπλωματών στο Νέο Δελχί καθώς και μαζικές διαδηλώσεις. Κλόνισε επίσης τις ευρύτερες διμερείς σχέσεις οδηγώντας στην αναβολή δύο επισκέψεων ανώτατων Αμερικανών αξιωματούχων στην Ινδία καθώς και μιας αμερικανικής επιχειρηματικής αντιπροσωπείας.

Η υπόθεση αφορά τη σύλληψη και την έρευνα κατά της Ινδής αξιωματούχου η οποία κατηγορείται από τις αμερικανικές αρχές για απάτη.

Η Κχομπραγκαντέ κατηγορήθηκε ότι προσκόμισε ψεύτικα έγγραφα στις αμερικανικές αρχές προκειμένου να βγάλει βίζα στην οικονόμο της, ενώ παρουσίασε και ανακριβείς δηλώσεις για το ύψος του μισθού που πλήρωνε στην υπάλληλο της το οποίο δεν ήταν το ίδιο με αυτό που είχε αρχικά συμφωνηθεί.

Κατόπιν αυτών η κυβέρνηση των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών ζήτησε αμέσως από την διπλωμάτη να εγκαταλείψει τη χώρα.

Μαριάννα Μαρμαρά 

 zougla.gr
10/1/14
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  • Indian diplomat leaves US with ‘head held high’
NEW YORK — An Indian diplomat accused of lying about how much she paid her housekeeper was ordered out of the United States yesterday (Jan 9) after she was indicted on two criminal charges and Indian authorities refused to waive her immunity, authorities said.
Devyani Khobragade, who had been strip-searched when arrested, left the country by plane yesterday night after being charged by a federal grand jury with visa fraud and making false statements in a case that has triggered an outcry in India, a senior US official said. She’s accused of fraudulently obtaining a work visa for her New York housekeeper.
A US government official in Washington who was not authorised to speak about the case publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity said the US accepted India’s request to accredit her to the United Nations, which confers broader immunity than what she enjoyed as a consular official. It would be almost unprecedented for the US to deny such a request unless the diplomat was a national security risk.
The United States asked the government of India to waive the immunity, but the Indians refused, so the US then “requested her departure” from the country, the official said.
At a court hearing late yesterday involving only lawyers in the case, US District Judge Shira A Scheindlin was told by Khobragade’s lawyer, Mr Daniel Arshack, that he had told Khobragade not to board a flight yesterday afternoon until he had informed the judge presiding over her case that she has diplomatic immunity and had been ordered by the Department of State to leave the country.
The judge said it seemed odd that bail conditions continued to contain language that Khobragade could not leave New York when the Department of State had ordered her to do so.
“If she wants to go from India to China or something, it is not anybody’s business right now. To say you may not travel outside the Southern District is kind of silly at this point,” the judge said. “They have ordered her out and agreed she has diplomatic immunity now.”
The judge said Khobragade “is permitted to obey the order of the State Department without any adverse consequence to her and her sureties”, though she said Khobragade could be arrested and forced to answer the indictment if she returned to the United States without diplomatic immunity.
Mr Arshack said Khobragade, whose nighttime flight from Kennedy Airport was delayed a couple of hours before finally taking off, was “pleased to be returning to her country”.
“Her head is held high,” the lawyer said. “She knows she has done no wrong and she looks forward to assuring that the truth is known.”

Authorities say Khobragade claimed to pay her Indian maid US$4,500 (S$5,700) per month but gave her far less than the US minimum wage. The indictment said Khobragade had made multiple false representations to US authorities, or caused them to be made, to obtain a visa for a personal domestic worker. She planned to bring the worker to the United States in September 2012 when she worked at the Consulate General of India in New York, according to the indictment.
Her arrest last month sparked outrage in India after revelations that she was strip-searched and thrown in a cell with other criminal defendants before being released on US$250,000 bail.
The maid, Ms Sangeeta Richard, said in her first public statements yesterday that she had decided to come to the US to work for a few years to support her family and then return to India.
“I never thought that things would get so bad here, that I would work so much that I did not have time to sleep or eat or have time to myself,” she said in a statement released by the anti-trafficking group Safe Horison.
She tried to return to India because of how she had been treated, she said, but her request was denied.
“I would like to tell other domestic workers who are suffering as I did — you have rights and do not let anyone exploit you,” said Ms Richard, who has been vilified in India and accused of blackmailing her employer.
Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general in New York, has maintained her innocence.
In a letter to the judge yesterday, prosecutors said there was no need for an arraignment because Khobragade had “very recently” been given diplomatic immunity status; they also mistakenly said she’d already left the United States.
A spokesman for prosecutors later clarified that the mix-up came because the Department of State advised that she was to have left the country yesterday afternoon.
The charges will remain pending until she can be brought to court to face them, through a waiver of immunity or her return to the US without immunity status, the letter from the office of US Attorney Preet Bharara said.
Mr Arshack said he was pleased the Department of State had recognised Khobragade’s diplomatic immunity.
He said the confusion over whether his client had left the country was “emblematic of the series of blunders which has contributed to the false charges brought against her”. He said Khobragade did not make any false statements and paid her domestic worker what she was entitled to be paid. AP
 http://www.todayonline.com/world/americas/indian-diplomat-leaves-us-head-held-high?page=1
10/1/14

3 comments:

  1. Indian Diplomat Leaves US ....

    An Indian diplomat at the center of a disagreement with the United States for allegedly lying on a visa application for her maid has left the U.S.

    Devyani Khobragade flew out of the U.S. Thursday night after India turned down a U.S. request to waive her diplomatic immunity.

    Khobragade had been serving as India's deputy counsel general in New York. However, on Thursday - following standard procedure - U.S. officials accepted India's request to change her accreditation to the United Nations as a diplomat, giving her full immunity.

    Once she had full immunity, the State Department asked India to waive it so that Khobragade could face charges. But India denied the request.

    The spokesman said the charges against her will not be dropped upon leaving the country, and she will face them if she returns.

    U.S. authorities arrested Khobragade last month. India alleges that she was strip-searched while in custody.

    She is accused of paying her housekeeper much less than minimum wage and lying about it on the maid's visa application.

    The situation has created a firestorm between the two countries. Indian officials have lifted some diplomatic immunity for U.S. officials in New Delhi and have ordered the U.S. embassy to restrict service at an embassy club for diplomats.

    Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
    http://www.voanews.com/content/indian-diplomat-leaves-us/1827120.html
    10/1/14

    ReplyDelete
  2. Devyani Khobragade: India seeks US official's withdrawal....

    ndia has asked the US to withdraw an official from its embassy in Delhi in a row over the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York.

    Devyani Khobragade is flying home after she was ordered to leave the US having been indicted on criminal charges.

    She was arrested in New York last month on charges of visa fraud and underpaying her housekeeper.

    India demanded an apology after she was handcuffed and strip-searched, and has refused to waive her immunity.

    Ms Khobragade has always denied any wrongdoing.
    Diplomatic reprisals

    Some local reports say Washington has been asked to withdraw a diplomat of a "similar rank" as Ms Khobragade from its Delhi mission.

    Others quote an unnamed government official as saying the US official was involved in the case relating to Ms Khobragade - although this is yet to be confirmed.

    The US embassy has not commented so far.

    Ms Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, was asked to leave the US after India refused to waive her diplomatic immunity, according to US officials...............http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25683915
    10/1/14

    ReplyDelete
  3. India orders U.S. to withdraw diplomat as dispute festers...

    (Reuters) - India ordered the United States on Friday to withdraw one of its diplomats from New Delhi, as the Indian consul at the center of the dispute between the two countries flew home after being indicted in New York for visa fraud.

    Devyani Khobragade, 39, who was India's deputy consul-general in New York, was arrested on December 12 and indicted on Thursday before being effectively expelled from the country. Her arrest set off a furor in India amid disclosures that she was handcuffed and strip-searched.

    She was flying to India on Friday and expected to arrive later in the evening..............http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/10/us-india-usa-diplomat-idUSBREA081DZ20140110?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
    10/1/14

    ReplyDelete

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