KOROR (Palau Horizon) – Chief of Division of Labor Russel Masayos, Director of Bureau of Immigration Joseph Giramur and businessman Haruo Esang were all charged on Tuesday with 48 counts of criminal charges for bringing three Chinese people to Palau and made them appear as workers by forging their documents.
Special Prosecutor Michael Copeland charged Masayos, Giramur and Esang for conspiring with each other to fix and forged the documents of Chinese tourists Chengxu Gong, Binbin Wei and Fenying Shi sometime in January until June of this year.
Special Prosecutor Michael Copeland charged Masayos with three counts of people smuggling, three counts of aiding and abetting falsifying travel and or other documents in aid of people smuggling, three counts of aiding and abetting forgery, three counts of conspiracy, three counts of bribery and three counts of misconduct in public office.
Giramur was charged with three counts of people smuggling, three counts of falsifying travel and or other documents in aid of people smuggling, three counts of forgery, three counts of conspiracy, three counts of bribery and three counts of misconduct in public office.
Esang was charged with three counts of bribery, three counts of conspiracy, three counts of people smuggling and three counts of aiding and abetting falsifying travel documents in aid of people smuggling.
The information stated that Masayos, Giramur and Esang “unlawfully give or received $150 in wrongful and corrupt payment for an official act done in violation of the law.”
Under the law, a foreigner is not eligible to seek provisional work visa while in Palau on a tourist visa.
Copeland alleged that Masayos, Giramur and Esang conspired with each other to fix the visa of the three Chinese to make them appear as legal workers.
Copeland alleged that Esang owned a restaurant and brought girls from China to Palau to work in his restaurant.
The Special Prosecutor alleged that Esang bribed Masayos to give the women permits to work in Palau.
The women came to Palau as tourists but were actually hired by Esang.
The Special Prosecutor alleged that Masayos bribed Giramur to fix the documents or to back date the women’s provisional visas.
The affidavit of investigators Mcvey Kazuyuki and Kazuo Uraziri stated that a potential bribery, misconduct in public office and human smuggling activities were reported to their office early of January this year.
The activities involved Chinese women entering Palau as tourists based on invitation letter signed by Fachun Tian, General Manager of Deluxe Restaurant.
The affidavit stated that while the tourists are here, Masayos and Giramur, being the Chief of Labor and the Director of Immigration and Esang would authorize the tourists Provisional visas and work permits to be employed in Palau.
The court document stated that Masayos and Giramur met on three separate occasions from January to May 2009 where Masayos instructed Giramur to back date Provisional visas issued to the Chinese women.
The document stated that Masayos paid Giramur a total of $450 to back date the visas of the women.
The document further stated that the process will allow the three Chinese women to be employed under Deluxe Restaurant which is owned by Esang without having them leave Palau or exit the country.
