Court frees Chinese illegals

Court frees ‘illegal’ Chinese workers at Ramu Nickel

A magisterial court in PNG has freed 178 non citizen workers at Ramu Nickel project who had been arrested last year for working illegally in the country.
The Chinese workers were arrested in a special joint operation carried out by the Department of Labour and Employment, PNG Immigration and the PNG Trans-National Crime unit in November. The workers were based at the Refinery site at Basamuk, the mine site at Kurumbukari and at the headquarters in Madang province.
The operation was carried out following complaints alleging that the Chinese workers were being brought into the country without following proper immigration processes and were also working without proper visas and work permits.
Chief Magistrate John Numapo handed down the decision to free the workers at the Madang District court on December 17 after finding that the workers were brought into the country to work under a government to government agreement between PNG and China.
A court official said there was an understanding that the Chinese workers were allowed into the country to work on tourist and business visas while their proper work permits and visas were processed over a period of six or seven months.
The government departments have however, been too slow in processing and issuing the proper documents.
The joint operation by the government officers to arrest the Chinese workers caught the PNG politicians and Ramu Nickel officials by surprise.
The PNG Post-Courier newspaper reported last year that Labour and Industrial Relations Minister Mark Maipakai had written to his Department Secretary David Tibu advising him that his actions were not in line with the Somare-Temu Government’s intention especially on the Ramu Nickel Mine.
The paper reported that other prominent politicians had also contacted the department asking them to be lenient on the Chinese because the multi-million Ramu Nickel mine was one of the biggest projects in the country.
President of MCC Madam Luo Shu also warned that the operation had ‘disrupted construction work and sullied the reputation of the developer and the PNG Mining Industry’.
She said the development of the mine has been hampered by the slowness of government agencies to process work permit applications and work visas of which 266 were still outstanding at various agencies.
She pointed out that under the contractual agreement between the PNG State and the project; the government agencies were obliged to “expeditiously …. grant permits and multiple entry visas, as required, for the entry and reentry of expatriate workers (and their dependents) whose job descriptions have been approved”.
She also said a number of those personnel holding business visas were conducting brief site investigations for equipment debugging/commission which she said were permitted under business visas.
A Senior Labor Department official told the Post-Courier newspaper that 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.
He alleged that most of those apprehended came into the country as engineers and technicians but were working on site as drivers, cooks, cleaners and carpenters. The officer said under the Foreign Employment Act one can not be employed while on a business visa.