Probe into arrested, strip-searched Indian diplomat was ‘disastrously’ bungled by U.S. authorities: lawyer
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![Devyani Khobragade, an Indian diplomat in New York, was arrested over apparently paying her cleaning staff less than she was reporting.]()
Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images; FacebookDevyani Khobragade, an Indian diplomat in New York, was arrested over apparently paying her cleaning staff less than she was reporting.
NEW YORK — A lawyer for an Indian diplomat whose arrest and strip search in New York City drew angry responses from officials in India accused U.S. authorities Tuesday of bungling the investigation.Attorney Daniel Arshack said the agent who drew up charges against his client made a key error in reading a form submitted on behalf of a domestic worker for Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general in New York. She was arrested two weeks ago and charged with submitting false documents to obtain a work visa for her New York City housekeeper.Arshack said in an email that the error was in “erroneously and disastrously” mistaking Khobragade’s listed base salary of $4,500 per month for what she intended to pay her housekeeper.The lawyer said Khobragade’s salary needed to be listed on the form so that U.S. embassy officials in India would know that Khobragade had sufficient income to be able to pay her housekeeper $1,560 per month, or $9.75 per hour for a 40-hour workweek. In court documents, authorities claim she paid her housekeeper about $3.31 per hour.
Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images; FacebookDevyani Khobragade, an Indian diplomat in New York, was arrested over apparently paying her cleaning staff less than she was reporting.
NEW YORK — A lawyer for an Indian diplomat whose arrest and strip search in New York City drew angry responses from officials in India accused U.S. authorities Tuesday of bungling the investigation.
Attorney Daniel Arshack said the agent who drew up charges against his client made a key error in reading a form submitted on behalf of a domestic worker for Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general in New York. She was arrested two weeks ago and charged with submitting false documents to obtain a work visa for her New York City housekeeper.
Arshack said in an email that the error was in “erroneously and disastrously” mistaking Khobragade’s listed base salary of $4,500 per month for what she intended to pay her housekeeper.
The lawyer said Khobragade’s salary needed to be listed on the form so that U.S. embassy officials in India would know that Khobragade had sufficient income to be able to pay her housekeeper $1,560 per month, or $9.75 per hour for a 40-hour workweek. In court documents, authorities claim she paid her housekeeper about $3.31 per hour.
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In an interview, Arshack said it became apparent as he and others closely reviewed the forms Khobragade was required to submit to arrange for the hiring of her housekeeper that the information she had submitted had been misunderstood.“It’s incredibly unsexy kind of information, but it does go right to the heart of what this is about,” he said.Prosecutors declined to comment on Arshack’s claims.Arshack has represented Khobragade since she was arrested Dec. 13, charged with lying on a visa form about how much she paid her housekeeper.![AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool]()
AP Photo/Rafiq MaqboolA protest outside the U.S. consulate in Mumbai, India, on Dec. 20, 2013, over the treatment and arrest of Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed regret over the case while Indian officials have said they are outraged, particularly at a strip-search of Khobragade that they say was degrading and unnecessary, though U.S. authorities have called it standard procedure.Khobragade has said she has full diplomatic immunity, though U.S. officials have said her immunity is limited to acts performed in the exercise of consular functions.She has been transferred to India’s United Nations mission, an assignment that has been processed by the Indian government and the United Nations but awaits U.S. State Department approval. She would have broader immunity in that position.In an unusual statement last week, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara responded to what he described as misinformation and factual inaccuracy in the case by saying Khobragade was accused of creating false documents and lying to the U.S. government about what she was doing, including hiring a housekeeper who was working far more than the 40 hours per week she was contracted to work.He also questioned why there was “precious little outrage” about the treatment of the Indian housekeeper and her husband while there was so much about the alleged treatment of Khobragade.He said his office’s sole motivation was to uphold the law, protect victims and hold lawbreakers accountable, “no matter what their societal status and no matter how powerful, rich or connected they are.”The Associated Press
In an interview, Arshack said it became apparent as he and others closely reviewed the forms Khobragade was required to submit to arrange for the hiring of her housekeeper that the information she had submitted had been misunderstood.
“It’s incredibly unsexy kind of information, but it does go right to the heart of what this is about,” he said.
Prosecutors declined to comment on Arshack’s claims.
Arshack has represented Khobragade since she was arrested Dec. 13, charged with lying on a visa form about how much she paid her housekeeper.
AP Photo/Rafiq MaqboolA protest outside the U.S. consulate in Mumbai, India, on Dec. 20, 2013, over the treatment and arrest of Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed regret over the case while Indian officials have said they are outraged, particularly at a strip-search of Khobragade that they say was degrading and unnecessary, though U.S. authorities have called it standard procedure.
Khobragade has said she has full diplomatic immunity, though U.S. officials have said her immunity is limited to acts performed in the exercise of consular functions.
She has been transferred to India’s United Nations mission, an assignment that has been processed by the Indian government and the United Nations but awaits U.S. State Department approval. She would have broader immunity in that position.
In an unusual statement last week, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara responded to what he described as misinformation and factual inaccuracy in the case by saying Khobragade was accused of creating false documents and lying to the U.S. government about what she was doing, including hiring a housekeeper who was working far more than the 40 hours per week she was contracted to work.
He also questioned why there was “precious little outrage” about the treatment of the Indian housekeeper and her husband while there was so much about the alleged treatment of Khobragade.
He said his office’s sole motivation was to uphold the law, protect victims and hold lawbreakers accountable, “no matter what their societal status and no matter how powerful, rich or connected they are.”
The Associated Press
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/12/24/probe-into-arrested-strip-searched-indian-diplomat-was-disastrously-bungled-by-u-s-authorities-lawyer/
US officials made a mistake in Khobragade's arrest: Lawyer
NEW YORK: Devyani Khobragade's lawyer today said US authorities goofed up in the investigation and arrest of the Indian diplomat on visa fraud charges as a federal agent made a "serious" mistake in reading the paperwork submitted regarding her maid's salary.
Daniel Arshack, Khobragade's lawyer, said Mark Smith, the Diplomatic Security Services agent handled the investigation and arrest of Khobragade and drew up and swore to the accuracy of the formal complaint in the case.
Smith "simply made an error in reading the DS-160 form which supported the visa applicationfor the domestic worker, Sangeeta Richard," Arshack told PTI.
"He erroneously and disastrously believed that the $ 4,500 per month salary entry on the form was Richard's expected salary when, in fact, it was clearly a reporting of the base salary to be earned by the employer, Khobragade, in the US," he said.
The lawyer said Khobagrade's base salary figure of $ 4,500 per month was required and appropriately reported on the DS-160 form, which is the online non-immigrant visa application required to be submitted by those seeking US visas.
It was submitted so that US Embassy officials in New Delhi could determine that Khobragade would be earning enough money to afford to pay Richard the $ 1,560 per month (9.75/hour for 40 hours a week) which had been agreed to according to the contract between Richard and Khobragade.
"Somebody who messes up on the paperwork and causes a terrible thing to occur is very very serious," he said.
Meanwhile, UN spokeswoman Morana Song confirmed Khobragade's accreditation to the UN headquarters here, saying, "The United Nations has received notification to register Ms Khobragade as a member of the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations."
"We can confirm that the United Nations has processed this request per its standard procedures," she said.
Khobragade was arrested on December 12 on charges of making false declarations in a visa application for her maid Richard. She was released on a $ 250,000 bond after being charged with visa fraud.
Subsequent revelations that she was strip searched and held with criminals triggered a row between the two sides.
Daniel Arshack, Khobragade's lawyer, said Mark Smith, the Diplomatic Security Services agent handled the investigation and arrest of Khobragade and drew up and swore to the accuracy of the formal complaint in the case.
Smith "simply made an error in reading the DS-160 form which supported the visa applicationfor the domestic worker, Sangeeta Richard," Arshack told PTI.
"He erroneously and disastrously believed that the $ 4,500 per month salary entry on the form was Richard's expected salary when, in fact, it was clearly a reporting of the base salary to be earned by the employer, Khobragade, in the US," he said.
The lawyer said Khobagrade's base salary figure of $ 4,500 per month was required and appropriately reported on the DS-160 form, which is the online non-immigrant visa application required to be submitted by those seeking US visas.
It was submitted so that US Embassy officials in New Delhi could determine that Khobragade would be earning enough money to afford to pay Richard the $ 1,560 per month (9.75/hour for 40 hours a week) which had been agreed to according to the contract between Richard and Khobragade.
"Somebody who messes up on the paperwork and causes a terrible thing to occur is very very serious," he said.
Meanwhile, UN spokeswoman Morana Song confirmed Khobragade's accreditation to the UN headquarters here, saying, "The United Nations has received notification to register Ms Khobragade as a member of the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations."
"We can confirm that the United Nations has processed this request per its standard procedures," she said.
Khobragade was arrested on December 12 on charges of making false declarations in a visa application for her maid Richard. She was released on a $ 250,000 bond after being charged with visa fraud.
Subsequent revelations that she was strip searched and held with criminals triggered a row between the two sides.
\http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/us-officials-made-a-mistake-in-khobragades-arrest-lawyer/articleshow/27870085.cms
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/archive/01692/Text_of_complaint__1692362a.pdf
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/archive/01692/Text_of_complaint__1692362a.pdf
Full text of the complaint against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade
The goof-up in the complaint:
