Speech #1040067543

May 22. 1995] U.S. BANKROLLS CoRRuPT U.N. PROGRAMi Since 1989. the United States has contributed roughly 150 million dollars to a United Nations program that screens refugees for resettlement and nonrefugees for repatriation. This screening program is. however. seriously corrupt and has placed numerous refugees at risk. It affects thousands of U.S. citizens whose tax dollars have gone into financing it. ironically. In Indonesia. for instance. screening officials have charged asylum seekers 5004.000 U.S. dollars for refugee status at the initial screening stage. At the final appeal stage. the price goes as high as S10.00012.000. The head of the corruption racket is none other than Colonel Wim Roesdi. Chairman of the Indonesian Task Force. in charge of Vietnamese asylum seekers. He has even opened a bank account under the name of Obrien Sitepu. his righthand man. at Chemical Bank. New York to collect cash directly from U.S. relatives of the asylum seekers. Several lawyers working for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to oversee the screening process also took part in the racket. Rahmad Irwan. representing UNHCR on the Refugee Status Appeal Board. is known to have demanded both money and sexual favors from asylum seekers in exchange for refugee status. He then shared the proceeds with his Indonesian counterparts on the Appeal Board. In a number of instances. the boat people had to offer their wives and daughters for several nights or longer. sometimes for weeks. as part of the deal. Many refugees with strong persecution claims have been denied refugee status because they could not afford the bribes or because they refused to offer their wives or daughters. In some cases. U.S. relatives were required to travel to Jakarta to pay cash directly to Colonel Roesdi.