International adoption. Neck or nothing
01/11-2012 08:33, Bishkek – 24.kg news agency , by Makhinur NIYAZOVA
Court is to deliver judgment for ex-minister of Social Development of Kyrgyzstan Ravshan Sabirov in a day or two. The trial didn’t last long, however, there were no sensational revelations, as expected, and disclosure of corrupt schemes in international adoption.
Pick me!
The whole so-called international adoption scheme was based on stale and downright extortion of money from international organizations. This is confirmed by testimony of the defendants, former and current employees of the agency, who spoke at the trial as witnesses.
Each organization depended not only on a special commission, which included representatives of various ministries, departments and even law enforcement agencies but also civil activists. But it was the Minister of Social Development who made final decisions on issue of accreditation certificates for one or another organization. The document was invalid without his signature. And the created Corruption Control Commission lacked effective leverage, its conclusions were only advisory.
Over 20 foreign associations and organizations claimed adoption certificates. But there were 10 vacancies only. And the one, who paid more than others, win the competition. Moreover, the money was paid to a high-ranking official, but not to the public treasury.
The ministry’s criminal scheme was disclosed by Anti-corruption Service (ACS), according to which the high-ranking officials of the special ministry got $15 - 20 thousand per certificate.
Who are all those people?
It took long to solve this corrupt tangle of international adoption. Unraveling started with arrest of Minister’s assistant secretary Takhir Mirzahkmedov for taking a bribe from Italian organization on international adoption. Right hand of the Social Development Minister sold his boss at the first interrogation, saying that the money from the representative of "In Cammino Per La Famiglia – Onlus" he extorted by order of Ravshan Sabirov. Soon the officers arrested the Minister himself.
The investigative agency also arrested the presumably key organizer and inspirer of the criminal business, Gulnara Derbisheva, former Deputy Minister, and current Director of Social Security Department under the Ministry of Social Development.
The public expected a number of arrests. Two or three people would scarcely pull off the deal, would they? It’s no secret that a whole team was involved in it.
Investigation of Derbisheva’s case is not over yet. Will the secret services find all corruption links? Or is the Minister and his former assistant have to answer for all?
Haste makes waste
However, the criminal case, hastily initiated and taken to court, played low-down trick with the investigation. The Anti-Corruption Service didn’t go deep into the case (maybe it didn’t want to?) and made an array of gaps, that only benefit smart lawyers.
The main intrigue of Sabirov’s case was sudden disappearance of the aggrieved party, Alexander Angelidi, representative of L' Airone Onlus Association. After three days of his absence at court hearings, the public prosecutor suddenly told that Mr. Angelidi “had passed away in Russia” on September 24, 2012. “No documentary proofs of it have come yet,” the prosecutor said and still hasn’t presented any evidences.
Attorney believes that the investigation hides location of the aggrieved. “The information about his death is wrong. According to our information, he is alive and is either in Kyrgyzstan or in Russia,” Mr. Sabirov’s attorney Ikramidin Aitkulov said.
Besides, the attorney found out that Alexander Angelidi had never been representative of L'Airone Onlus Association, and the attorney allegedly has evidence of it. “I found the company’s office and got written reply that Angelidi has never been their representative. It turns out that he deluded the investigation,” he says.
Angelidi’s evidences say that he gave Mr. Sabirov’s assistant $40 thousand in total. “Takhir Mirzakhmedov said we wouldn’t get any certificate until we resolve humanitarian aid issue,” the prosecutor read Angelidi’s evidences in court.
Who is the whitest here?
It’s no secret that Kyrgyz children are taken abroad violating all imaginable laws. There were several big international adoption scandals with Alexander Angelidi’s name in them.
It became known recently that some people tried to take healthy children away from a single mother for international adoption. The woman was forced to sign a refusal under alleged financial aid.
Mr. Sabirov’s attorney believes that “one doesn’t know what to expect from such international swindler as Angelidi”. The attorney intends to bring Angelidi, and also Guliayim Ismayilova, representative of In Cammino Per La Famiglia – Onlus Association (Italy), to court for false denunciation of his client. According to him, the latter blamed Sabirov in order to protect herself. “The case has materials, according to which criminal case against Ismayilova for bribery was closed”.
Ismayilova denies attorney’s information about charges, believing he is doing to defend his client. According to the witness, she also gave money to Sabirov through his assistant, Takhir Mirzakhmedov. The sssistant always claimed everything was agreed with the minister. And when I met Mr. Sabirov, he told me to solve everything with Takhir. When I was talking to the minister’s assistant, he told me a camera was filming us, and the boss could see and hear everything,” Guliayim Ismayilova told at trial.
Angelidi testified that the Minister ordered to solve everything through his assistant, and the latter extorted tens of thousands dollars from foreign organizations for allegedly humanitarian aid to orphans.
Camomile games
The defendant initially gave the same testimony. He admitted to extorting money by Sabirov’s order. However, in court (after information of Angelidi’s death came), Tahkhir began denying his testimonial. He said the attorney persuaded him to shift the blame on to the boss, so that he would be “dropped charges and relleased on parole”.
Extortion and bribery facts were also denied by the defendant: he said it was not bribe at all, but a “reward for my assistance” given voluntarily by the foreign organization’s representatives. “I spent them on my personal needs. I wanted to raise money illegally”, Takhir Mirzakhmedov said at the trial.
During next hearing, the defendant began claiming that officers made him give testimonials. However, GKNB denies his words. The investigative agency said it has video record of Takhir Mirzakhmedov’s interrogation, where he is confessing criminal action in collusion.
Bets accepted
The public prosecution asked the court to find Ravshan Sabirov and Takhir Mirzakhmedov guilty, and sentence them to 15 and 14 years in a strict regime penal colony with confiscation of property. And Mr. Sabirov was lucky: extortion of a large scales bribe by a public official stipulates for 20 years in prison.
The defendants’ advocacy considers the prosecutor’s arguments as groundless. Attorney Ikramidin Aitkulov believes that court must acquit his client. “No evidence of Sabirov’s guilt has been brought to court. It’s a gallery play. The public prosecution asks for 15 years, though it has not brought any evidences. The whole case is based on Takhir Mirzakhmedov’s testimonial, who denied his own words at trial, claiming he was made to do so,” he noted.
The attorney said no witness has testified against Ravshan Sabirov. And Derbisheva’s arrest justifies Mr. Sabirov. “She was arrested while returning bribe to organization’s representative, because she failed to accredit it as Sabirov rejected to sign the association’s certificate. Isn’t it a direct proof that Ravshan Sabirov fought against corruption in the Ministry?” Ikramidin Aitkulov believes.
Fates of hundreds of orphans depend on the trial’s outcome, which, unfortunately, didn’t end sensationally. Whom will Themis believe?
OPPORTUNITY HOUSE
In March 2007 AAI opened Opportunity House (OH), a home designed to serve children with special needs in Addis Ababa. Start-up costs were provided by a generous grant from the Margaret T. Biddle Foundation. Three years later, in 2010, OH was officially sanctioned by the Ethiopian government as a model program improving the holistic well-being of children with developmental disabilities.
The dozen or so children living at Opportunity House have a variety of disabilities including autism, blindness, deafness, and developmental delays. AAI also partners with nearby orphanages to care for several children with similar issues. Many of the children referred to the OH program have families who are unable to assist with the challenging daily needs of their child. These children are not eligible for adoption. The ultimate goal is for children to be reunited with their birth families. In 2011-2012 several children did indeed go home to improved lives with their families!
Treatment is highly individualized and designed to help each child reach his/her maximum developmental potential. Caring professionals provide speech, physical, and occupational therapy, as well as training for the staff and families responsible for the ultimate care of the child. Slowly but surely the stigma surrounding special needs is giving way to empathy and appropriate educational and therapeutic programs.
We have seen evidence of great progress! Children who were silent have begun to speak; those who were immobilized are sitting and walking with the help of intensive therapy; and all are learning to interact with others and communicate their needs appropriately.
Russia demands US grant access to adopted child subject to abuse
© RIA NovostiTags: Abuse, Adoption, The Foreign Ministry, U.S12:50 30/10/2012MOSCOW, October 30 - RAPSI. Moscow has demanded that the U.S. authorities grant Russian consulate employees unlimited access to Maxim Babayev, who was subject to abuse from his U.S. foster family, according to a statement by foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.Maxim's adoptive parents were arrested in Brevard, Florida on suspicion of child abuse last year. The court later closed the case.
In September, Russian diplomats requested a full explanation from the US authorities and details of the boy's whereabouts so that they could meet with him.The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the ruling recently passed by the Brevard District Court, Florida, refusing to grant the Russian consulate access to Babayev contradicts the provisions of the Consular Convention between the Soviet Union and the United States of 1964.
Zakharova said that the Brevard District Court ignored Moscow's request to grant Russian consulate employees unlimited access to Babayev, and instead recommended talking with Maxim's temporary guardian over the telephone.
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