Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1270964
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 JULY 2020 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS US authorities will not "seek or cooperate with" any attempts to remove Pilatus bank owner Ali Sa- dr Hasheminejad from the country in immigration re- moval proceedings, after the Department of Justice moved for the removal of a jury's guilty verdict on sanctions-busting and fraud charges, and vacated re- cords of his charges deleted from the Department of Justice's web- site. Hasheminejad had been found guilty of evading US economic sanctions by a jury in the United States in March this year. He was arrested in February 2018 at Dulles airport, accused of using the US financial system to launder over $115 million in payments from a construction project in Venezuela that his father's con- struction company was involved in, back to his family's companies in Europe. The US Attorney insisted these violated sanctions against Iran because it benefited Iranian individuals and entities. But in an extraordinary turn of events, the same prosecutors last month asked a judge for permission to drop the case, a rare move, citing the likelihood of Hasheminejad's litigation over sup- pression of potentially exculpatory evidence. District Judge Alison Nathan slammed the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan over "serious con- cerns about the conduct of the gov- ernment, from the actions that led the Court to suppress material pre-trial." Hasheminejad then petitioned the court to have the case dismissed with prejudice so that the unlawfully ob- tained guilty verdict does not stand, since it could have adverse immi- gration consequences for him, apart from reputational harm. Mere exoneration was not enough for Hasheminejad, who also sought the oblit- eration of records of the case against him. Correspondence seen by MaltaToday shows that Hasheminejad's lawyer wrote to the Department of Justice, insisting on the removal of press releases characteris- ing Hasheminejad as a felon from the DOJ website. As a result of this pressure, press releases announcing the guilty verdict, issued in March had been later updated to begin with text stating that "on June 5, 2020, the Government moved to dismiss the charges against the defendant in this case Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad." "While mentioning the motion to dis- miss in a single sentence containing no reasons, two paragraphs later the press re- lease continues to quote the U.S. Attorney characterising Sadr as a felon." The press release was also the first hit re- turned when one searches for "Ali Sadr" on Google. "We are surprised and disappointed that the press release remains on DOJ's web- site, particularly given that this does not appear to be an oversight but rather an affirmative decision to keep the full state- ment public with only a one-sentence 'update' that does not make clear that the case is being dismissed because the gov- ernment's constitutional violations de- nied Sadr a fair trial." Additionally, Hasheminejad requested an affirmation that the government would not seek or cooperate with any immigra- tion removal proceedings against him, saying that such proceedings would be "completely unwarranted given that Sadr has not been convicted of (or, in light of the impending dismissal with prejudice, even charged with) any offence." In a reply, Shawn Crowley, co-chief of the Terrorism and International Narcot- ics Unit at the US Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York, said the press releases had been removed. "We will not seek or cooperate with any immigra- tion removal proceedings against Sadr," Crowley added. Sadr ran the private bank Pilatus Bank in Malta from 2013, and which largely dealt with millions in reserves owned by the Azerbaijani ruling family and oligarchs. His bank was implicated in the Egrant affair, when the late journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia claimed it had processed a $1 million payment from the Aliyevs of Azerbaijan to the wife of former prime minister Joseph Muscat. The allegation was disproven by a Maltese magisterial inquiry along with other allegations she made about Pilatus Bank, but by then the banks' other dealings for Azerbaijan had come under the lens of financial investiga- tors. When Hasheminejad was arrested in February 2018, the Maltese financial reg- ulator shut down the bank and started an investigation. Ali Sadr gets guarantee against US removal KARL AZZOPARDI ASYLUM seekers unable to in- tegrate into Maltese society are being let down by a system that lacks resources to ensure they find jobs and housing. Homeless migrants sleeping rough on Triton Square in Val- letta were forced to leave the migrants open reception centre, which does not house asylum seekers beyond a certain period in a bid to reduce their depend- ence on state facilities. But homeless asylum seekers who spoke to MaltaToday say they are living on a bare mini- mum, waiting for people to give them food or money to make it through the day. "There is nothing new about this. It has been like this since the beginning. We need to have structures in place which can support these people both finan- cially and psychologically," the academic Maria Pisani, who runs Integra Foundation, said. Migrants are provided tempo- rary accommodation for a spe- cific period of time upon their ar- rival to the country. During this time, the migrants are encour- aged to find a job and alternative housing. The only exceptions to this process are vulnerable mi- grants who reside at the centre for a longer period than other migrants. While Pisani agrees that asy- lum seekers and such migrant workers should be incentivised to integrate, she pointed out that a flawed system is not catering the hurdles they face upon their in- duction into society. Obstacles like workplace ex- ploitation and racism are still alive and well, she points out. "The policy needs to partnered with resources, or else it fails completely," Pisani said, saying the homeless migrants in Valletta had been faced with "the perfect storm". "The increase in arrivals cou- pled with the COVID-19 pan- demic has made the situation vis- ibly harder for these people. The pandemic has brought about eco- nomic uncertainty. This means finding a job has become even harder for these people, leav- ing large groups of people either jobless or vulnerable to exploita- tion," she said. While calling for more resourc- es to be directed towards inte- gration, Pisani insisted this was no criticism of the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS), but of policy. "The is- sue desperately needs addressing. In helping these people society as a whole will be benefit," she said. AWAS head Mauro Farrugia shared Pisani's sentiment that integration for such migrants came with difficult hurdles. "One cannot deny that asylum seekers are one of the most vulnerable groups in society. The only way to ensure that migrants live an in- dependent life is to engage them in stable and legal employment. The transition to the community is always a challenge and AWAS provides individual support to migrants to make such process as smooth as possible." But Farrugia pointed out that the lack of trust with respect to asylum seekers from employers. "Many employers prefer to im- port workers instead of hiring asylum seekers who are already physically present in the coun- try. AWAS does its utmost to help asylum seekers cope in such a scenario, mainly through the promotion of legal employment, addressing the language barrier and awareness-raising." Farrugia said more awareness needs to be raised among the general public, employers and the migrants themselves. "Govern- ment resources are being reori- ented to focus more on preparing migrants to lead an independent life rather than simply providing accommodation or material sup- port. It also appears that the gov- ernment is willing to manage the competition in the labour market resulting from the admission of labour migrants, especially where low-skilled work is concerned." General Workers Union (GWU) President Victor Cara- chi expressed his frustration at the situation. "We cannot have second-class citizens, no matter where they are from," he said, acknowledging the exploitation of foreign workers as an ongo- ing matter of concern. "To the detriment of both the migrants and other workers, the abuse will end up distorting the workforce," Carachi said. Carachi said unionising such asylum seekers and migrant workers would help them in en- forcing their rights, but cited the importance in providing courses to the migrants entering Maltese society. "It gives them leverage in finding good employment while providing know how on the in- dustry they might be looking to work in. Workers have worked hard to acquire these rights along the years, so we cannot allow certain employers to throw that away by exploiting these vulner- able people." Migrants prey to homelessness without help to get jobs