You can fool all the people some time; some people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time as immigration solicitors and Tamil NGOs found to their chagrin.
by Pearl Thevanayagam
(November 17, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mr Karunadasa is spot on in his analysis of TGTE cabinet published in the Sri Lanka Guardian yesterday. Now that the LTTE is a spent force the Tamil diaspora needs a diversion and an alternative means of fleecing innocent asylum-seekers in parting with their hard-earned money.
The going rate for paying human trafficking agents to get someone to a Western country to claim asylum is a whopping £15,000 which translates into a colossal Rs Three million.
The immigration solicitors who thrived since 1983 had a budget of legal aid which enabled them to charge illiterate, desperate and ignorant clients as well as procuring UK government funds to plead their asylum cases. They were masters in the game of ‘failing’ asylum in the first instance so they can milk out more funds for appeal cases.
While the Home Office fees for processing a Travel Document (issued to refugees under the 1951 Geneva Convention for Refugees whereby they could travel anywhere except to their home country) is under £50.00, the solicitors would charge £150.00. All because most asylum seekers cannot speak English and fill out forms!!! They also charge £300.00 to fill out and send to the Home Office Marriage, Settlement, Student and Sponsorship Visa forms.
You can fool all the people some time; some people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time as immigration solicitors and Tamil NGOs found to their chagrin.
And UK authorities have seen through their practices and those immigration solicitors who profited through the misery of asylum-seekers are now in the doldrums. Barring five immigration solicitors in London the others have been struck off their Legal Aid entitlement grants from the Legal Services Commission. They can no longer represent clients with legal aid.
Then there was a burgeoning of NGOs purportedly assisting Tamil community in the West to integrate with the British society. TRAG (Tamil Refugee Action Group) and many more got UK funders to support the cause of integrating Tamil refugees into Britain. When this writer tried to contact this group there was nobody answering the telephone calls. Evelyn Oldfield Trust, a donor group which TRAG managed to obtain funds from, had to stop their donations in the face of mis-appropriation by this said NGO.
TRAG management then went on to form their alternative NGOs which hardly elicited any funds from the diaspora who became wise to their profiteering machinations.
Unlike in Sri Lanka the donors keep a careful check and balance for every penny spent and Charities Commission (the regulating body for charities) are very strict about the constitution of a charity. There are reams of forms to fill in and feed-back regularly before it will renew the charity status. Also you need to pay upfront £5,000 to start a charity.
What with the credit crunch biting into each and everyone’s purse opportunists would always find a way to beat this by forming NGOs; the cottage industry of the last three decades.
The modus operandi for forming a charity goes something like this. First of all you approach a White person in a western country and tell the sob stories of your country’s treatment of any segment of people be they gay, lesbians, minorities, religiously persecuted, HIV/Aids victims, victims of domestic violence, illiterates et al.
You are so convincing that this person would ask you to draft a constitution and Memorandum of Understanding as well as Articles and Object. Then you are directed towards prospective donors or start collecting funds through membership fees, cultural and food festivals.
Once you convince your donors then you make a showcase of seminars, classes and projects aimed at target groups. Majority who belong to your charity would be volunteers while a handpicked would be holding positions in the MC (Management Committee). The MC can now do as it pleases as long as it satisfies board members. The board members are usually professionals and holding degrees or who have financial clout. Voila; you are set for life and beat that credit crunch. Not a bad idea, is it?
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