New Delhi: Devyani Khobragade's lawyer Wednesday said US authorities goofed up in the investigation and arrest of the Indian diplomat on visa fraud charges as a federal agent made a "serious" mistake in reading the paperwork submitted regarding her maid's salary.
Daniel Arshack, Khobragade's
lawyer, said Mark Smith, the Diplomatic Security Services agent handled the
investigation and arrest of Khobragade and drew up and swore to the accuracy of
the formal complaint in the case.
Smith "simply made an
error in reading the DS-160 form which supported the visa application for the
domestic worker, Sangeeta Richard," Arshack said.
"He erroneously and
disastrously believed that the USD 4,500 per month salary entry on the form was
Richard's expected salary when, in fact, it was clearly a reporting of the base
salary to be earned by the employer, Khobragade, in the US," he said.
The lawyer said Khobagrade's
base salary figure of $4,500 per month was required and appropriately reported
on the DS-160 form, which is the online non-immigrant visa application required
to be submitted by those seeking US visas.
It was submitted so that US
Embassy officials in New Delhi could determine that Khobragade would be earning
enough money to afford to pay Richard the USD 1,560 per month (9.75/hour for 40
hours a week) which had been agreed to according to the contract between
Richard and Khobragade.
"Somebody who messes up on
the paperwork and causes a terrible thing to occur is very very serious,"
he said.
Meanwhile, UN spokeswoman Morana
Song confirmed Khobragade's accreditation to the UN headquarters here, saying,
"The United Nations has received notification to register Ms Khobragade as
a member of the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations."
"We can confirm that the
United Nations has processed this request per its standard procedures,"
she said.
Khobragade was arrested on
December 12 on charges of making false declarations in a visa application for
her maid Richard. She was released on a USD 250,000 bond after being charged
with visa fraud.
Subsequent revelations that she
was strip searched and held with criminals triggered a row between the two
sides.
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