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Karl Schembri
The Foreign Affairs Ministry is believed to be “exasperated” by police investigations into the alleged irregular visas issued to Chinese students, as an integral part of the contested procedure is being overlooked.
Sources at the ministry complain unofficially of a drawn out investigation that has been going on, inconclusively, since last December.
They say that, even more worryingly, while the police are investigating a procedure that involves part of the police corps itself, they are not investigating immigration officials, who are high-ranking police officers.
The Immigration Office, which sanctions visas and has the final say on which foreigners should be issued with travelling documents, is not being investigated.
Asked by MaltaToday whether investigators were looking into the final stage of visa procedures, which involved the immigration police, Commissioner John Rizzo lambasted the question, saying that “nobody ever alleged anything against them”.
In fact, immigration officials themselves are leading investigations with their Italian counterparts into the clandestine trafficking of Chinese students to Sicily following the murder of six immigrants 15 miles off Pozzallo.
Assistant Commissioner Andrew Seychell and Immigration Inspector Sandro Zarb left for Sicily last week to investigate three recent cases of 45 illegal immigrants landing in Sicily, who the Italians claim left from Malta with armed Maltese traffickers.
hese investigations overlap with a previous police inquiry into allegations made by Labour spokesperson for foreign affairs Leo Brincat last December about favouritism in the processing of visas by staff at the Maltese Embassy in Beijing.
Leo Brincat had alleged in Parliament that one of the three diplomats posted in China was favouring a particular tourism agency in visa procedures. The agency specialises in student travel.
Reacting to the allegation, Foreign Minister Michael Frendo had reported the matter to the police and asked for a “wide-ranging investigation” that would analyse the visa procedure and the way applications were handled.
In an interview last Sunday, Frendo said the police were involved in the visa procedure under investigation, but Commissioner Rizzo told MaltaToday last Thursday that investigations centred only around the Beijing embassy staff, given that Leo Brincat had only pointed in that direction.
“Brincat did not mention immigration police in his allegation,” Rizzo said.
But according to the minister, visas are issued by the police following an initial screening by the embassy.
“We have an initial interview (with visa applicants) at the embassy, which is sent to the police, who are part of the process,” he said. “So the interviews are held in Beijing, the applications are then sent to the police, and the police are part of the screening process, so they can refuse visas. I wouldn’t know why they are refused, and that’s how it should be. That’s how our system works, and I don’t see the embassy separate from the police or the police separate from the embassy – it’s one process – and I think we need to establish some other facts before saying there is laxness, or that the credibility (of the embassy) has been irretrievably dented.”
So far the police have found “no foul play” at the embassy, but in an interim report sent to Minister Frendo they said their investigations were “inconclusive”.
The investigations centre around Consul Joe Pirotta and Ambassador to China Saviour Gauci, although the latter was only questioned by the police over the last weeks. Last December, just after the investigations started, Gauci was here on holiday but the police did not interrogate him.
Pirotta was alleged to have come to Malta earlier with a director of the Chinese agency indicated by MP Leo Brincat.
Pirotta and Gauci have been instructed by the Foreign Ministry to remain in Malta in the hope that investigations are stepped up, but a lot of the questions remain unanswered.
Sources say any clash between Foreign Minister Michael Frendo and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg is unlikely to come out in the open, but the investigations are said to be disappointing and exasperating, as Brincat’s allegations continue to cloud the reputation of the Maltese Embassy in Beijing.
It is understood that the foreign ministry complained with the police last week for utilising a high-ranking ministry official and former Consul in China, Olaf Terribile, to act as interpreter with Chinese nationals under investigation.
Asked about the matter by MaltaToday, Commissioner Rizzo denied the police engaged Terribile as interpreter, but confirmed he was sent for by the police in the course of the ongoing investigations in view of his previous experience at the Beijing embassy spanning over 10 years - although he has served in Malta for the last five years and is now Head of Protocol. Rizzo confirmed Terribile worked previously with the police as an interpreter on other investigations. He is now expected to be posted in London.
Sources told MaltaToday that the procedure adopted by the Beijing embassy involved receiving applications from tourism agencies licensed by the Chinese government. These agencies are specialised in organising packages for Chinese students and some of them are known to advertise Malta as a destination where “visas are guaranteed”, although it seems that they advertise other destinations in a similar deceitful manner.
Agencies contact the embassy to set an appointment for interviews for prospective travellers to Malta, who would generally apply as English language students.
For the interview, the agencies would have already secured an advance payment for all tuition fees, a return flight booking, and a language school certification that the applicant will be accepted for a course in Malta.
The bulk of the interviews are conducted by Pirotta, although in his absence the ambassador may take over. MaltaToday is informed that although government has temporarily suspended visas for Chinese nationals, interviews were still held last week by the embassy’s Commercial Counsellor, Jonathan Galea. Sources said the Foreign Ministry did not issue any instructions to the embassy stop the interviews.
MaltaToday is informed that the embassy is updated regularly through its channels with other European Union embassies in Beijing about dubious Chinese travel agencies that are blacklisted because of their history of numerous students who “disappear” after landing in Europe with temporary visas.
According to the procedure adopted by the embassy, the interviewer has to test the applicants’ comprehension of English, reading and conversation skills, and grade them accordingly. The applicant then pays Lm16 and his application is sent, accompanied by the interviewer’s marks, to the police immigration office in Malta, where they are accepted or refused and visas issued accordingly.
Last year, 20 per cent of applications sent from Beijing were refused by immigration police, while this year the refusal rate went up to 50 per cent.
Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said in Parliament last week that there were 2,452 applications for visas from Chinese nationals between July last year and March this year. He said 1,793 were accepted and 659 were refused.
karl@newsworksltd.com
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