Arrest warrant issued against Khobragade in US visa fraud case

March 15, 2014

KhobragadeNew York, Mar 15: An arrest warrant was today issued against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade on visa fraud charges after her fresh indictment by US prosecutors who accused her of “illegally” underpaying and “exploiting” her domestic maid.

39-year-old Khobragade, who was arrested in New York on December 12 and has since been transferred to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, faces arrest if she visits the US where her husband and two children are staying.

Following the fresh 21-page indictment, US Attorney in Manhattan India-born Preet Bharara said in a letter to US District Judge William Pauley that an “arrest warrant was also issued today” against the diplomat and that the government “will alert the court immediately upon the defendant's arrest so that an appearance” before the judge may be scheduled.

The new charges, which came two days after a US court dismissed an earlier indictment on Wednesday, accused her of visa fraud and making false statements about the visa application of her maid Sangeeta Richard.

The indictment states that the diplomat “knowingly made” multiple false representations and presented false information to US authorities in order to obtain a visa for a personal domestic worker.

The fresh indictment filed in a court in Manhattan also charges that Khobragade submitted to the US State Department an employment contract of her domestic worker which she knew contained “materially false and fraudulent statements.”

A grand jury had earlier returned a true bill on the two-count criminal indictment of Khobragade.

The indictment said, “Khobragade did not want to pay the victim the required wages under US law or provide the victim with other protections against exploitative work conditions mandated by US law.

“Knowing that if the US authorities were told the truth about the actual terms of her employment agreement with the victim, Khobragade would not have been able to obtain a visa for the victim, Khobragade decided to make false statements to the US authorities,” it said.

Khobragade was arrested on visa fraud charges and for making false statements regarding the visa application of her maid.

She was strip-searched and held with criminals, triggering a row between the two countries with India retaliating by downgrading privileges of certain category of US diplomats among other steps.

The diplomat has refuted the charges against her.

The indictment gives details of the employment contract that Khobragade entered into with her domestic help.

It states that the diplomat “illegally underpaid and exploited the victim.” It said she kept Richard's passport with her and told the maid that it would be returned once her three-year term of employment was completed.

It also states that “escalating efforts” were made by Khobragade and others “to silence and intimidate the victim and her family and lie to Indian authorities and courts.”

Bharara has submitted as exhibits a copy of the employment contract that Khobragade entered into with Richard that states that she will be paid $9.75 per hour salary and would be required to work for 40 hours a week.

Also submitted is a copy of the FIR filed in India in which Khobragade said she had agreed to pay Richard Rs 30,000 per month, contrary to what she had told the US authorities.

According to prosecutors, Khobragade claimed she paid the woman $4,500 a month, but actually paid her around $3 per hour and made her to work for more hours.

The indictment states that Khobragade knew the actual arrangement between her and Richard “violated US laws” and so she created a “fraudulent employment contract” and had the “victim execute it“.

“Because it was created by Khobragade solely to deceive the US embassy during the victim's (visa) interview,” the employment contract “included false statements” that made it seem as if the diplomat's arrangement with the “victim would comply with applicable US laws”, it said.

The fresh indictment comes after Khobragade got relief from US District Judge Shira Scheindlin who in her order on Wednesday dismissed the earlier indictment on grounds of diplomatic immunity and ordered that any open arrest warrants based on the earlier indictment should be vacated.

Scheindlin's order, however, did not bar federal prosecutors from bringing new charges against the former Deputy Counsel General in a fresh indictment in future.

Bharara said the new indictment was returned charging Khobragade in two counts with visa fraud and making false statements ... which as alleged in the indictment, were “undertaken to facilitate her exploitative employment of a household employee who was grossly underpaid and overworked.”

He further informed the court that “the government respectfully submits that time is automatically excluded from calculation under the Speedy Trial Act...which provides for the exclusion of any period of delay resulting from the unavailability of the defendant.

In this case, the defendant is unavailable because her “whereabouts are known but (her) presence for trial cannot be obtained by due diligence or (she) resists appearing at or being returned for trial.”

Khobragade's lawyer Daniel Arshack, who had said he was “heartened” when the previous indictment was dismissed, did not make any comment

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News Network
March 31,2020

Washington, Mar 31: The United States has performed over one million coronavirus tests so far, said President Donald Trump on Monday.

"Today, we reached a historic milestone in our war against coronavirus. Over 1 million Americans have now been tested, more than any other country by far, not even close," Trump said during a press briefing.

US Health Secretary Alex Azar said that approximately 100,000 samples are tested for coronavirus daily.

The number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases within the United States surpassed 150,000 and the death toll has reached 2828, according to Johns Hopkins University. 

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News Network
March 21,2020

United Nations, Mar 21: The UN has called on all nations to stop the use of capital punishment or put a moratorium on it, a day after four men convicted of gang-raping and murdering a 23-year-old woman were hanged in India.

Seven years after the rape and murder of the young medical student, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya', sent shock waves across the country, the four convicts - Mukesh Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) - were hanged to death on Friday at 5.30 am in New Delhi's Tihar Jail.

Responding to the hanging, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the world organisation calls on all nations to stop the use of capital punishment or put a moratorium on it.

"Our position has been clear, is that we call on all States to halt the use of capital punishment or at least put a moratorium on this," Dujarric said at the daily press briefing on Friday.

The horrific gang-rape and murder of the physiotherapy intern on December 16, 2012, who came to be known as Nirbhaya, the fearless, had seared the nation's soul and triggered countrywide outrage.

This was the first time that four men have been hanged together in Tihar Jail, South Asia's largest prison complex that houses more than 16,000 inmates.

The executions were carried out after the men exhausted every possible legal avenue to escape the gallows. Their desperate attempts only postponed the inevitable by less than two months after the first date of execution was set for January 22.

The execution of the four convicts brings the curtains down on the case that shook not just India but also the world with the details of its brutality The widespread protests subsequently paved the way for a change in India's rape laws.

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News Network
June 8,2020

Wellington, Jun 8: New Zealand lifted all domestic coronavirus restrictions on Monday after its final COVID-19 patient was given the all clear, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealing she danced around her living room when told about the milestone.

While strict border controls will remain in place, Ardern said restrictions such as social distancing and limits on public gatherings were no longer needed.

"We are confident we have eliminated transmission of the virus in New Zealand for now," she said in a televised address, saying Kiwis had "united in unprecedented ways to crush the virus".

The South Pacific nation, with a population of five million, has had 1,154 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 22 deaths.

There have been no new infections for 17 days and, until Monday, just one active case for more than a week.

Details of the final patient were not released for privacy reasons but it is believed to be a woman aged in her 50s who was linked to a cluster at an Auckland nursing home.

Ardern said the sacrifices made by New Zealanders, including a drastic seven-week lockdown that helped curb infection rates, had been rewarded now that there were no active cases in the country.

Asked about her reaction upon hearing the news, she replied: "I did a little dance" with baby daughter Neve.

"She was caught a little by surprise but she joined in, having absolutely no idea why I was dancing around the lounge."

New Zealand's move down to Level 1, the lowest rating on its four-tier virus response system, means nightclubs can operate without dance floor restrictions and theatres will reopen.

It also means sporting events can proceed with crowds in the stands, a change New Zealand Rugby (NZR) said offered its Super Rugby Aotearoa competition the opportunity to achieve a world first when it kicks off this weekend.

"We're incredibly proud, and grateful, to be the first professional sports competition in the world to be in a position to have our teams play in front of their fans again," NZR chief executive Mark Robinson said.

While many other sporting competitions around the globe have announced plans to restart, the vast majority will be played either with no crowds or with numbers severely restricted.

On a broader level, Ardern said easing restrictions would help New Zealand's economy.

"We now have a head start on economic recovery because at level one we become one of the most open, if not the most open, economies in the world," she said.

The prime minister said modelling showed the economy would operate at just 3.8 percent below normal at Level 1, compared with a 37 percent impairment at Level 4 lockdown.

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