Court frees Chinese miners ([url=wlmailhtml:{C984704D-5115-45EF-A796-B0D6CED7B932}mid://00000010/!x-usc:http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20081224/wehome.htm]www.postcourier.com.pg/20081224/wehome.htm[/url])
By SIMON ERORO
THE 178 non-citizens apprehended in a special joint operation conducted by government officers are free, and can continue working at the Ramu nickel mine.
The special operation was conducted by officers from the Department of Labour, Migration and officers from the Trans-National Crime.
It followed reports alleging foreigners were entering the country and working at the mine without following proper immigration processes and without work permits.
There were also allegations levelled against responsible departments for non-performance.
This decision was handed down by the Chief Magistrate John Numapo at the Madang District Court last Wednesday in Madang.
Attempts to talk to Mr Numapo were unsuccessful yesterday.
However, Senior Magistrate Jacob Sareng said from Madang that the court ruling was based on evidence tabled in court.
Mr Sereng confirmed Mr Numapo found the Chinese workers apprehended during the special operations at the mine site were allowed into the country through a government to government agreement.
Learning they were actually working in the country with proper permits and were not illegally in the country as branded by Papua New Guinea officials,?Mr Sereng said.
He said this was kind of an inter-arrangement where they were allowed to come into country on tourist and business visas with the knowledge that their work permits and visas would be processed within six or seven months but that had not been the case.
Mr Sereng said the District Court found that since it has a government to government arrangement, the failure lay on the part of the department and people who were responsible for enforcing the arrangement and that it was seen to take effect.
Mr Sereng said Mr Numapo ruled after hearing submissions from both parties that:
THE informations against the defendants of each and severally as attached were withdrawn;
THE defendants each and severally were discharged;
ALL bail money by defendants each and severally were refunded; and
BAIL conditions imposed as part of the bail be lifted.
The operation which was conducted early last month took centre stage the officers apprehended the non-citizens for allegedly breaching of our country's labour and immigration laws.
84 ‘illegal’ miners(postcourier.com.pg/20081105/news01.htm)
A JOINT special operation with officers from the Labour and Foreign Affairs departments and members of the Trans-National Crime unit detained 84 Chinese at the Ramu nickel mine, in Madang Province.
The employees, all from mainland China were handed to police in Madang yesterday and charged with breaching Papua New Guinea immigration and labour laws.
It was discovered many of the non-citizens were employees of ENFI, a company contracted by the developer of the nickel mine, MCC.
The operation followed reports in recent weeks on allegedly illegal foreigners entering PNG to work in the multi-million-kina project.
Last night, Ramu nickel project manager Wu Xeufeng asked for more understanding and cooperation.
He urged that all find ways to a constructive solution. “We as always would be fully cooperative with the government agency to address these working issues’’.
The special operation which started in the early hours of Monday at the camp site saw 57 detained while 27 more were apprehended yesterday morning at their work stations.
The special operation was confirmed by officers from the three law enforcing agencies that it was the first of its kind on the mining site.
A senior labour officer said MCC management were always reminded of the consequences of breaching PNG’s labour and foreign affairs laws and they should not be surprised at the presence of the officers from the three organisations. He said all the Chinese apprehended there were working illegally as they did not have work permits and visas while some were employed on business visas or with expired business visas.
The officer said among those caught were two women whose business visas expired a few months ago.
The operation was conducted by head count and ID cards confiscated by the officers were cross checked against the records of the non-citizen employees working in the mine.
Most of those apprehended came into the country as engineers and technicians but were working on site as drivers, cooks, cleaners and carpenters. One was employed on site as a doctor although the records with the foreign work permit division identified him as an engineer.
The officers said it was very clear under the Foreign Employment Act, that “you can not be employed while you are on a business visa and the conditions governing the business visa is strictly employment prohibited’’.
RAMU nickel mine management last night defended their position on employment of Chinese nationals at the mine, after a raid by government officers.
Foreign Affairs and Labour officers, plus staff from the transnational crime unit, detained 84 Chinese on the mine site over two days.
The workers were taken to Madang town and handed to police who charged all of them with breaches of our immigration and labour laws.
Project manager Wu Xeufeng said in a statement that there were about 800 expatriates currently at the mine site.
The project had been granted more than 850 working visas and more than 900 working permits by the PNG Government, he said.
“While trying to fast track the project construction, we lost no time in complying with the requirement to submit requested information for working permits and working visas,’’ he said.
“In recent meeting with the Labour Department, we were encouraged that it was acknowledged that there are a number of essential and urgent project skills (for example, special welding technicians for the pipeline) that are scant in the project area and PNG and must be outsourced.’’
Mr Wu said the company was concerned that there wer more than 200 work permit and work visa applications that had been held for long times at government agencies, some for up to a year.
“We would strongly urge the government agencies to speed up the process,’’ he said.
“It should also be noted that it is impractical (and impossible given the current processing timeline we have experienced) to arrange and obtain working visa for certain groups of personnel, for example, among the site employees that have been identified only holding business visa, there are site visiting experts and equipment commissioning/debugging and maintenance technicians who are urgently required on ad hoc missions but they would only stay there for one or two weeks.’’
Mr Wu said the project was progressing well in construction and should be completed on schedule next year.
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