(August 09, Washington, Sri Lanka Guardian) We are publishing here without any editing or alteration a document sent to us by Tamils for Justice in Washington DC, USA as one sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on their behalf by their attorney Bruce Fein April 3, 2008. The document speaks for itself. We understand Attorney Bruce Fein no more represents Tamil for Justice but has decamped to a group in Toronto who have set up Justice for Thamils as a counter move to Tamils for Justice. We feel Attorney Bruce Fein has a lot of explaining to do especially as to why he has betrayed Tamils for Justice.
Honorable Robert Mueller April 3, 2008
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
RE: Suspected Conspiracy and Document Fraud Perpetrated by Minister Ali Zaheer Mowlana, Minister in the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington D.C.
Dear Director Mueller:
I am writing to urge the FBI’s opening of an investigation of Ali Zaheer Mowlana, currently serving as Minister in the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington, D.C. Convincing evidence suggests Mr. Mowlana, a Sri Lankan national, may have conspired to defraud Immigration and Customs Enforcement in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371 and may have made false statements in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1001. The predicate criminal acts would have stemmed from Mowlana’s application for political asylum in July 2004.
The application allegedly contained the material false claim that Mowlana held a well-founded fear of persecution based on political opinion either by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) or the LTTE. See 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42). Mr. Mowlana may also be an illegal alien for overstaying his visitor’s visa to travel to the United States that was issued in April 2004. He has remained in the United States for four years while awaiting a decision by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on his asylum petition.
The petition has not been withdrawn. An FBI investigation would not confront immunity issues arising under Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations because Mowlana’s status as Minister has not been formally approved by the State Department. In any event, the Secretary of State is authorized under Article 9 of the Convention to order Mr. Mowlana discharged from the Sri Lankan Embassy for flouting United States civil or criminal laws. Investigating Mowlana is essential to insuring respect for the nation’s immigration laws at a time when violations are notorious.
Background
Mr. Mowlana is neither a stranger to United States immigration laws nor a person of unblemished character. In 1998 or 1999, Mowlana apparently schemed with his wife Thanuja Paiva to consummate a marriage of convenience in the United States with David Fluitt in Santa Clara County, California. Mowlana and his wife coveted a green card for her to secure permanent residency in the United States. While purporting to marry Fluitt, Thanjua Paiva lived with Mowlana as his wife. Fluitt was gay. His partner was a Sri Lankan named Gamini Weerasekera. When the latter threatened to expose the marriage fraud to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Mowlana and his wife fled to Sri Lanka. Gamini travels between Sri Lanka and the United States, and should be available as a witness.
Mowlana’s Visitor’s Visa-2004
In April 2004, Mowlana and his family received visitor’s visas to the United States with the intercession of the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, and the Sri Lankan Ambassador in the United States. The prologue to the visas speaks volumes about his subsequent asylum petition.
In April 2004, Mowlana was a United National Party (UNP) Member of Parliament. The Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) had formed a minority government headed by Prime Minister Rajapaksa in coalition with the Marxist, extremist JVP and JHU. Contrary to the wishes of the UNP leadership, Mowlana assisted the flight to Colombo of Karuna, a paramilitary terrorist notorious for kidnapping children for use as soldiers. The Karuna Group had split from the LTTE in mid-March 2004, and had thereby provoked its enmity. When Mowlana’s assistance to Karuna was discovered, he was forced to resign from Parliament by the UNP leader. Shortly thereafter, Prime Minister Rajapaksa, Foreign Minister Kadirgamar, and the Sri Lankan Embassy secured visitor visas for Mowlana, his wife Thanuja Paiva, and his two children. It seems probable that the State Department in Washington, D.C. directed the United States Embassy in Colombo to issue the visas.
Mowlana’s Asylum Petition-2004
A few months after his arrival in the United States, Mowlana and his entire family filed petitions for political asylum on or about July 2004. Mowlana’s petition apparently maintained that he feared persecution based on political opinion from either the GOSL or the LTTE. But both theories of persecution seem fabricated. Mowlana did not reside in territory controlled by the LTTE. He had never been an LTTE target. The LTTE had employed Mowlana as an intercessor in the expulsion of Karuna to Colombo. He was a political cipher after his resignation from Parliament whose persecution by the LTTE would have been meaningless. As for the GOSL, its officials had assisted Mowlana in securing visas to travel to the United States. The GOSL had no reason to persecute Mowlana.
He was in good standing with the Sri Lankan armed forces and police. Both had collaborated with him in protecting Karuna. Mowlana’s claim of a well-founded fear of persecution based on political opinion seems clearly concocted in contravention of 18 U.S.C. 1001. That conclusion is reinforced by the fact that incumbent President and former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed Mowlana through his Foreign Minister to serve as Minister in the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington, D.C. in December 2007 or January 2008. Finally, if the allegation of persecution were genuine, Mowlana would not have tarried before filing for asylum after reaching the shores of the United States.
President Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Kadirgamar may have conspired with Mowlana to make a material false statement concerning persecution based on political opinion in his asylum petition to defeat the lawful functions of ICE in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371. The United States Supreme Court endorsed a broad interpretation of section 371 in Haas v. Henkel, 216 U.S. 462 (1909).
Mowlana’s Illegal Alien Status
Mowlana may also be an illegal alien. His visitor’s visa was issued in April 2004. He filed a petition for asylum a few months after his arrival in the United States. But the asylum petition, simpliciter, did not extend Mowlana’s visitor visa, which expired long ago. Mowlana’s asylum petition has been pending for four years. Tamils for Justice does not know whether ICE suspended deportation of Mowlana pending a final decision on his asylum application.
Conclusion
The United States should not be complacent with Mowlana serving as a Minister in the Sri Lankan Embassy without further vetting. The Minister may have violated the immigration laws by conspiracy and deception. The American people are deeply skeptical of the government’s immigration enforcement efforts. That skepticism will be compounded if Mowlana’s suspected immigration crimes or illegal alien status are ignored. A Minister serving in an Embassy who has committed immigration crimes would be either a farce or a spectacle. Mowlana’s seeming attempt to abuse asylum is especially troublesome because it casts a cloud over worthy asylum petitions, which are often difficulty to substantiate. Moreover, Mowlana’s flirtation with Karuna, a terrorist currently imprisoned in Great Britain for passport fraud, militates against his presence in the United States as a Minister harbored in the Sri Lankan Embassy.
I am available to provide more information to the FBI to assist the investigation of Mowlana on request.
Sincerely,
Bruce Fein.
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
RE: Suspected Conspiracy and Document Fraud Perpetrated by Minister Ali Zaheer Mowlana, Minister in the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington D.C.
Dear Director Mueller:
I am writing to urge the FBI’s opening of an investigation of Ali Zaheer Mowlana, currently serving as Minister in the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington, D.C. Convincing evidence suggests Mr. Mowlana, a Sri Lankan national, may have conspired to defraud Immigration and Customs Enforcement in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371 and may have made false statements in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1001. The predicate criminal acts would have stemmed from Mowlana’s application for political asylum in July 2004.
The application allegedly contained the material false claim that Mowlana held a well-founded fear of persecution based on political opinion either by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) or the LTTE. See 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42). Mr. Mowlana may also be an illegal alien for overstaying his visitor’s visa to travel to the United States that was issued in April 2004. He has remained in the United States for four years while awaiting a decision by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on his asylum petition.
The petition has not been withdrawn. An FBI investigation would not confront immunity issues arising under Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations because Mowlana’s status as Minister has not been formally approved by the State Department. In any event, the Secretary of State is authorized under Article 9 of the Convention to order Mr. Mowlana discharged from the Sri Lankan Embassy for flouting United States civil or criminal laws. Investigating Mowlana is essential to insuring respect for the nation’s immigration laws at a time when violations are notorious.
Background
Mr. Mowlana is neither a stranger to United States immigration laws nor a person of unblemished character. In 1998 or 1999, Mowlana apparently schemed with his wife Thanuja Paiva to consummate a marriage of convenience in the United States with David Fluitt in Santa Clara County, California. Mowlana and his wife coveted a green card for her to secure permanent residency in the United States. While purporting to marry Fluitt, Thanjua Paiva lived with Mowlana as his wife. Fluitt was gay. His partner was a Sri Lankan named Gamini Weerasekera. When the latter threatened to expose the marriage fraud to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Mowlana and his wife fled to Sri Lanka. Gamini travels between Sri Lanka and the United States, and should be available as a witness.
Mowlana’s Visitor’s Visa-2004
In April 2004, Mowlana and his family received visitor’s visas to the United States with the intercession of the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, and the Sri Lankan Ambassador in the United States. The prologue to the visas speaks volumes about his subsequent asylum petition.
In April 2004, Mowlana was a United National Party (UNP) Member of Parliament. The Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) had formed a minority government headed by Prime Minister Rajapaksa in coalition with the Marxist, extremist JVP and JHU. Contrary to the wishes of the UNP leadership, Mowlana assisted the flight to Colombo of Karuna, a paramilitary terrorist notorious for kidnapping children for use as soldiers. The Karuna Group had split from the LTTE in mid-March 2004, and had thereby provoked its enmity. When Mowlana’s assistance to Karuna was discovered, he was forced to resign from Parliament by the UNP leader. Shortly thereafter, Prime Minister Rajapaksa, Foreign Minister Kadirgamar, and the Sri Lankan Embassy secured visitor visas for Mowlana, his wife Thanuja Paiva, and his two children. It seems probable that the State Department in Washington, D.C. directed the United States Embassy in Colombo to issue the visas.
Mowlana’s Asylum Petition-2004
A few months after his arrival in the United States, Mowlana and his entire family filed petitions for political asylum on or about July 2004. Mowlana’s petition apparently maintained that he feared persecution based on political opinion from either the GOSL or the LTTE. But both theories of persecution seem fabricated. Mowlana did not reside in territory controlled by the LTTE. He had never been an LTTE target. The LTTE had employed Mowlana as an intercessor in the expulsion of Karuna to Colombo. He was a political cipher after his resignation from Parliament whose persecution by the LTTE would have been meaningless. As for the GOSL, its officials had assisted Mowlana in securing visas to travel to the United States. The GOSL had no reason to persecute Mowlana.
He was in good standing with the Sri Lankan armed forces and police. Both had collaborated with him in protecting Karuna. Mowlana’s claim of a well-founded fear of persecution based on political opinion seems clearly concocted in contravention of 18 U.S.C. 1001. That conclusion is reinforced by the fact that incumbent President and former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed Mowlana through his Foreign Minister to serve as Minister in the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington, D.C. in December 2007 or January 2008. Finally, if the allegation of persecution were genuine, Mowlana would not have tarried before filing for asylum after reaching the shores of the United States.
President Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Kadirgamar may have conspired with Mowlana to make a material false statement concerning persecution based on political opinion in his asylum petition to defeat the lawful functions of ICE in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371. The United States Supreme Court endorsed a broad interpretation of section 371 in Haas v. Henkel, 216 U.S. 462 (1909).
Mowlana’s Illegal Alien Status
Mowlana may also be an illegal alien. His visitor’s visa was issued in April 2004. He filed a petition for asylum a few months after his arrival in the United States. But the asylum petition, simpliciter, did not extend Mowlana’s visitor visa, which expired long ago. Mowlana’s asylum petition has been pending for four years. Tamils for Justice does not know whether ICE suspended deportation of Mowlana pending a final decision on his asylum application.
Conclusion
The United States should not be complacent with Mowlana serving as a Minister in the Sri Lankan Embassy without further vetting. The Minister may have violated the immigration laws by conspiracy and deception. The American people are deeply skeptical of the government’s immigration enforcement efforts. That skepticism will be compounded if Mowlana’s suspected immigration crimes or illegal alien status are ignored. A Minister serving in an Embassy who has committed immigration crimes would be either a farce or a spectacle. Mowlana’s seeming attempt to abuse asylum is especially troublesome because it casts a cloud over worthy asylum petitions, which are often difficulty to substantiate. Moreover, Mowlana’s flirtation with Karuna, a terrorist currently imprisoned in Great Britain for passport fraud, militates against his presence in the United States as a Minister harbored in the Sri Lankan Embassy.
I am available to provide more information to the FBI to assist the investigation of Mowlana on request.
Sincerely,
Bruce Fein.
Attorney for Tamils for Justice,
Post Office Box 65450,
Washington, D.C. 20006
Phone: 703-963-4968, FAX: 202-478-1664; Email: bruce@thelichfieldgroup.com : END
- Sri Lanka Guardian
Phone: 703-963-4968, FAX: 202-478-1664; Email: bruce@thelichfieldgroup.com : END
- Sri Lanka Guardian
 We are publishing here without any editing or alteration a document sent to us by Tamils for Ju...){kind=link}
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