M A I N   N E W S

Devyani builds solid defence to counter Preet Bharara
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 23
After having been granted UN accreditation today that exempts her from personal appearance in the US court hearing the case of visa fraud against her, Devyani Khobragade, the embattled Indian diplomat, is reportedly working on building a solid defence to disprove the charges.

Official sources reveal that evidence is being marshalled to show that Khobragade fully implemented the employment contract with her maid Sangeeta Richard, contrary to US Prosecutor Preet Bharara's contention that she tried to evade the US law designed to protect exploitation of domestic employees.

According to the sequence of events made available to The Tribune, in August
2012, Khobragade hired Sangeeta Richard as her domestic assistant and
planned to take her as an Indian-Based Domestic Assistant (IBDA) to New York
where the diplomat was soon to be designated as Deputy Consul General of the
Indian Mission. Before Richards left for the US, in Delhi she was said to
have been given a prorated monthly salary of Rs 30,000 that was referred to
as her “basic pay.”

Around September 2012, Khobragade assisted Richards in obtaining an Official Indian Government passport and was accepted as an IBDA that entitled her to accompanying benefits of official government employment that included travel and health care.

Sources claim that on October 15, Richards is said to have requested Khobragade to assist her in filling the electronic form DS-160 to obtain a US visa as she couldn't operator a computer. In this form, they both together filled the amount of $ 4,500 in a box asking for the salary details of Khobragade. " This figure did not represent the offered salary to Richards as is being mistakenly claimed by the US authorities in their complaint against her," sources added.

On November 11, Khobragade and Richards are said to have signed the US State Department mandated Employment Contract which guaranteed the maid an hourly wage of $ 9.75 which indicated certain benefits and also stated that this did not include deductions that were not permitted.

That Contract projected an average of 40 working hours per week or around $ 1,560 a month (around Rs 93,000) and also specified among other details the off days as required for receiving the A-3 visa. Khobragade was not present when Richards went for the interview to the US embassy and obtained a visa. ''Therefore, there is no possibility of influencing what was or was not stated by the maid,'' sources added.

Soon after obtaining the visa, the sources claimed that Richards pressed Khobragade to deposit her basic pay of Rs 30,000 a month into her bank account as her husband was unemployed and wanted an agreement in writing. On November 23, the sources said that Khobragade and Richards signed the India-based contract that was limited to only giving the maid an assurance that her "basic pay" would be transferred monthly to her Indian account.

From November 24, 2012 till June 22, 2013 when Richards went missing from Khobragade's house, the sources claim that the maid was paid by the diplomat as per the stipulations of the November 11 contract on the basis of actual hours for which she worked. At 9.75 per hour for 40 hours a week, the maid was entitled to about $ 1560 dollars a month. About 560 dollars (about Rs 30000) of this was being paid to her in India.

The remaining $ 1,000 dollars is said to have been paid to her monthly in New York on the following basis: about $ 375 monthly was deducted from the salary to pay for her chargeable utilities, telephone usage, her cable TV, her non work related conveyance and her non work related expenses. Some $ 625 were given monthly in cash, occasionally with signed receipts that will be produced in court as proof. “The November 11 contract was implemented and fulfilled, partially through the Rs 30,000 payment in India as per the (subsequent) November 23 local Indian contract, and the remainder through payments, both in cash and kind, made in New York throughout the length of her employment. The suggestion that Khobragade had no intention of fulfilling the November 11 contract is wrong since she did, in fact, fulfil it,'' official sources said.

However, while Khobragade mounts her defence, she would have to contend with the acumen and skills of Preet Bharara, the US Attorney who charged her with the crime of visa fraud and human-trafficking. Bharara has a reputation of being thorough and fearless and must have done his home-work before filing such serious charges against the Indian diplomat.

It is now to be seen whether the defence that Khobragade is building holds in court.

Claims she fully implemented job contract with maid

Official sources say that evidence is being marshalled to show that Khobragade fully implemented the employment contract with her maid Sangeeta Richard, contrary to US Prosecutor Preet Bharara's contention that she tried to evade the US law designed to protect exploitation of domestic employees