| News |
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| Lebanon
stops SL visas The Sri Lankan ambassador to Lebanon M.I.M. Musheen has been summoned by authorities of the Lebanon internal security and a charge-sheet has been handed over to him against two Sri Lankan officials. The two officials are W.J.H.P. Botejue, Counsellor Employment and Labour attached to the Sri Lankan embassy in Lebanon, while the other official is Ms. Huda Halawi. The Sri lankan ambassador has in a letter informed of this development to the Foreign Affairs, Employment and Labour and Foreign Employment Welfare Ministers. The charges levelled against the accused by the Lebanese government include the demanding of bribes from a migrant worker to settle a dispute between her and the sponsor, collecting money from housemaids and misappropriating monies from housemaids. Ms. Huda Halawi and Boteju had allegedly arranged with a private agency to direct all contracts available to the embassy through a particular agency, thus depriving the Lebanese government of a deposit of a thousand dollars. They are further accused of allegedly collecting the airfare from housemaids and paying for the tickets out of Sri Lankan government funds. Another of the charges stated both officers were collecting money and sending thousand dollars per month to a person attached to the Foreign Ministry. The Sunday Times also learns that the person named Boteju is attached to the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau, appointed through the director board paper 18/2003 and his monthly salary is US $1,791 and he is paid an extra allowance of US $ 220. Recently Lebanese bound housemaids had faced serious problems with embassy authorities. During the past two weeks twenty three bodies of housemaids have been returned to Sri Lanka. |
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