Improper Issue of Diplomatic and Official Passports [1998] VUOM 8; 1998.08 (18 March 1998)

REPUBLIC OF VANUATU

OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN

PUBLIC REPORT

ON THE

IMPROPER ISSUE OF DIPLOMATIC AND OFFICIAL PASSPORTS

13 March 1998

(reissued 18 March 1998)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PREAMBLE

'He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live' .....

Proverb 15 V 27.

Few countries have made it harder to earn a passport than Vanuatu. The requirements are strict - there must have been ten years residence in the country, and there must have been no criminal record of any kind, or no doubtful background.

It has always been difficult to understand quite why these requirements were made so demanding, since for example, Australia requires only two years residence and New Zealand three years.

However, whatever the reasons behind those requirements, they were ignored by Senior Ministers when it suited them.

This 'illegal' practice of improper issue of passports was not confined only to ordinary passports, but diplomatic and 'official' passports were granted illegally to selected persons; some of whom had a criminal, or at least a questionable past, and most of them, not any information on them, and sometimes no address.

It should be noted that these actions also put other countries involved in a very undesirable position. For example, the possession of these 'special' passports enable undesirable people to pass freely to and from some countries who would not have agreed to this if they had been asked, carrying diplomatic cases that tradition and agreements requires the customs not to open.

Therefore Vanuatu once again is put into a position, because of its leaders’ actions, of losing the respect of other nations. This report gives clear evidence of the processes involved and of the actions of leaders elected to take care of the interests of the people.

In the years since Independence in 1980, many of these leaders at different times have used words like 'pride', 'integrity' 'sovereignty' 'independent' when referring to Vanuatu’s nationhood. However these important words seem to have been forgotten.

1 FACTS AND COMMENTARY

1.1 This report concerns an improper and unreasonable practice that started in 1993 and has gathered pace since then. This is the issue of Vanuatu diplomatic and/or official passports to various foreign nationals and their spouses who have been appointed by Ministers as 'Honorary Consuls', 'Deputy Consuls', 'Trade Commissioners', 'Assistant Trade Commissioners', 'Trade Representatives' and 'Special Advisers'.

1.2 The reason that I have put these titles in quotation marks is because my view is that with only a few exceptions all these appointments are a sham. There appears to be about 30 diplomatic passports and 40 official passports that were issued to persons that were not proper appointments. Also of serious concern is that two official passports (X000246 and X000393) and one diplomatic passport, (D000174), are missing and cannot be accounted for.

1.3 The appointments of these foreign nationals to these somewhat vague posts for the purpose of developing trade and/or looking after the needs of Vanuatu citizens from countries ranging from Thailand to 'the Middle East' and even to a whole continent of Asia appears to be a convenient trick to take part in the fairly lucrative market for second passports.

1.4 Those involved were former Prime Minister Rt. Hon Serge Rialuth Vohor, former Foreign Affairs Minister Vidal Soksok, former Prime Minister Hon Maxime Carlot Korman and former Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Willie Jimmy. There was on one occasion also a diplomatic passport issued to Peter Swanson under instructions of former Finance Minister Hon Barak Sope relating to the Bank Guarantees matter.

1.5 The great majority of these appointees:

(a) have never been approved by the receiving country (this means the country to which the appointee is posted; i.e. for the Honorary Consul to Malaysia the 'receiving country' will be Malaysia) and thus are invalid and ineffective.

(b) have never done any work for Vanuatu citizens living overseas (in most cases this because there are no ni-Vanuatu living in these countries; e.g. Cambodia, Thailand, Seychelles, Nauru and Malta) or

(c) have never successfully promoted Vanuatu resulting in investment for or trade with Vanuatu;

(d) have never submitted any reports as directed to do so in their letters of appointment (where those exist).

1.6 For many of these appointees:

(a) other than their name, nothing is known about them or their background. The Department of Foreign Affairs at one point had to write to the Immigration Department asking for addresses from Immigration and Departure cards for various official and diplomatic passport holders as they did not hold even these most basic detail on their own files!

(b) they are young people without any demonstrable skills or qualifications to carry out the specialised tasks that are required of bona fide Consuls and Trade Commissioners; and

(c) they already hold or have held other foreign passports, including in a few instances Vanuatu official and/or diplomatic passports. The most recent examples are four passports issued by Foreign Affairs Minister Soksok to four men with Chinese names in late November/early December 1997 who held passports from Nauru issued about 1 week earlier. Two of these Chinese people are now Vanuatu’s 'Honorary Consuls to Nauru'; and

(d) they do not live in the country in which they are supposed to be representing Vanuatu and for a few are not even residents let alone citizens of the receiving country

1.7 In the case of a couple of these appointees:

(a) they have criminal convictions or have been alleged to have been involved in fraudulent activities (e.g. Mr Yae Yong (Richard) JUNG[1] (appointed by Messrs Serge Vohor and Soksok) and Mr Peter SWANSON[2] (appointed by Mr Barak Sope); WANG Zhi-Ying[3] (appointed by Mr Maxime Korman)

(b) they have also received citizenship and an ordinary (as distinct from diplomatic) passport as well (Mr Jian Peng CHEN (appointed by Messrs Vohor and Soksok) and Mr Yae Yong (Richard) JUNG.

1.8 Mr Jean Sese, the suspended Director of the Foreign Affairs Department, was the compliant servant of Messrs Vohor, Korman, Jimmy, Soksok and Sope in issuing these passports that should never have been issued. Most recently, when the Ombudsman’s Office started enquiring into allegations of illegal passport issues in September 1997, Mr Soksok from November 1997 has now illegally taken over responsibility for issuing diplomatic passports himself as advised to us by the Foreign Affairs Department.

1.9 Interestingly also was that after the Ombudsman’s Office started inquiring into this matter the Department of Foreign Affairs suddenly started in late 1997 seeking letters of acceptance for persons it had already given diplomatic and official passports to. This was a pointless exercise since the passports had already been handed out.

1.10 The best way to set out this information is by way of tables. Table 1 to this report is a list of diplomatic passports that on present information appear to have been improperly and/or illegally issued, with some exceptions as marked. Table 2 is a list of official passports that that on present information appear to have been improperly and/or illegally issued, with some exceptions as marked. The relevant law and practices relating to diplomatic passports is set out in the next section, section 2.

1.11 The following information is a selection of what is to be noted from the tables:

• Out of 70 passports issued only 6 have been issued with a letter of acceptance from the receiving country. 64 were issued without a letter of acceptance.
  
• Vanuatu has 8 or 9 representatives in Taiwan
  
• Vanuatu has four representatives in Singapore and two each in Nauru and the Philippines
  
• Vanuatu has ten representatives with official passports for whom no-one knows in which country they are representing Vanuatu
  
• Vanuatu has issued passports to four 'special advisers'
  
• About 20 appointments were made by Mr Korman
  
• About 19 appointments were made by Mr Jimmy (some with Mr Vohor)
  
• Eight appointments were made by Mr Vohor (some with Mr Jimmy)
  
• About nine appointments were made by Mr Soksok
  
• One appointment was made or recommended by Mr Sope
  

TABLE 1 - DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS ISSUED

KEY

** = Letter of acceptance held by receiving country

¶ = Passport now in Department of Foreign Affairs’ custody

NO.	Issued	Name	Nationality			Title given		Appointed by
D000137	??.03.93	BIJON, JEAN-FRANCOIS	France ('FR')			PM Economic adviser		Hon MC Korman
D000141¶	05.04.93	THAN, LIEN	US 0318977266, 17.08.96			HC 'Asian countries'		Korman
D000143¶	29.04.93	NGO, CHO YAM	People’s Republic of China 'PRC'			Assistant HC 'Asia'		Korman
Note: probably same person as holder of X000376 see number 1 in Table 2.
Note 2: Business card describes him as Deputy Special Advisor of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration for Asia Affairs
D000145¶	13.07.93	ONG, TEE HENG	M A5558928, 09.04.98 ID4852361			HC PRC		COM
Note: Same person as 12 below. First name (ONG,, Tee Heng - 5) is Cantonese spelling, second (WANG, Zhi Ying – 12) is Mandarin spelling
Note 2: Also issued with official passport number X000386, refer number 2, Table 2.
D000146¶	29.07.93	WU, HUAN-HUI	Taiwan ('TWN') M2115562			Van Trade officer Twn		Korman
D000148	30.08.93	MARTIN**, DANIEL	FR 75.538598			HC France		COM
Note: Appointed at same time as Mr & Mrs Caerou, who were issued three official passports each refer X000398-X000403, refer 11-16, Table 2.
D000154	01.10.93	HEINZ**, EGLI	Switzerland 7799021, 22.03.97			HC Switzerland		COM
D000166	21.02.94	YOSHIOKA**, BUNNOSUKE	Japan MN3909601, 20.08.98			HC Japan		COM
D000167	24.08.94	NAVIKAPOL**, MONTREE	Thailand			HC Thailand		COM
D000169¶	20.09.94	YAM, Wilson Hilhong Lickie	M D342376(O) 25.11.97			HC Malaysia		Korman
Note: Issued a second diplomatic passport (No D000194 see 13 below) and an official passport (see No 22 Table 2; X000449)
Note 2: Also issued with a Bolivian passport number 3769844.
D000171	04.10.94	WANG, ZHI YING		M A5558928, 09.04.98 ID4852361		HC Phillipines/PRC		Korman
Note: same person as 5 above; First name (ONG - 5) is Cantonese spelling, second (WANG - 12) is Mandarin spelling
D000186	22.09.95	SEET, LYE HUAT (ALLAN)		S 0210249-H, 13.04.97		HC Singapore		Korman
D000194¶	18.01.96	YAM, Wilson Hilhong Lickie		M D342376(O) 25.11.97		PM Adviser		Korman
See 11 above
D000197	26.03.96	SWANSON, PETER HAROLD		Australian		Special Representative Hon		BT Sope
D000232	20.01.97	HIMFORD, WENDY		Vanuatu A002173 17.12.00		HC Hong Kong		Hon W Jimmy
D000233	21.01.97	PENYA, PAUL		Australia		PM Economic Adviser		Hon S Vohor
D000238	18.02.97	YAO** ENG HUE		Philippines 22007291 12.10.00		HC Phillipines		Jimmy
D000025	02.03.97	ZHANG, YUANLIN (DAVID)		Unknown		HC Canada (Vancouver)		Soksok
Note: is this the same person as ZHANG, QIAN see below tab? X000594 in Table 2.
Note 2: Also holds a Kiribati passport issued on 27.01.97 number I001108
D000026	14.03.97	CHEN, JIAN-PENG		PRC 142530089 18.04.01		HC Macau (Portugal)		Hon S Vohor
Note: Also received an ordinary Vanuatu passport for himself and 11 other colleagues/family Refer Ombudsman Report Regarding Passports Issued to the family of JP Chen.
Note 2: Also issued a second diplomatic passport, D000032, on 1 July 1997, see 25 below
D000027¶	14.03.97	CHEN, ZHA FAN		PRC		Secretary to HC Macau		Jimmy
D000028	16.05.97	KAO, YING FANG (ALBERT)		Britain 500043895 19.05.03		Ambassador Hong Kong		Vohor/Jimmy
D000029	16.05.97	YAO, DING MING		PRC 141721095 28.03.00		HC Seychelles		Vohor/Jimmy
D000030	19.05.97	LU, MING QIU		PRC		HC Vietnam		Vohor/Jimmy
Note: Also holds a passport from the Republic of the Seychelles issued on 16.08.96 number is SEY A053055.
D000031	20.05.97	LIN, SHAOQUN REONARD			PRC		HC Thailand		Vohor/Jimmy
Note: Also holds a passport from the Dominican Republic issued on 09.01.96 number 159411.
D000032¶	01.07.97	CHEN, JIAN-PENG			PRC 142530089 18.04.01		HC Macau (Portugal)		Vohor
Note 2: Also issued a second diplomatic passport, D000026, on 14.03.97, see 19 above.
D000076¶	28.11.97	SHENG, YE GUAN			Nauru 014081(issued 19.11.97)		HC Nauru		Soksok
Note: Also issued a second diplomatic passport D000079, see 30 below.
D000077	12.12.97	CHEN, SHEN			Nauru 014237(issued 03.12.97)		HC Philippines		Soksok
D000078	12.12.97	JOBSON, YIP			Nauru 014236 (issued 03.12.97)		HC Philippines		Soksok
D000079	31.12.97	SHENG, YE GUAN			Nauru 014081(issued 19.11.97)		HC Nauru		Soksok

TABLE 2 - OFFICIAL PASSPORTS ISSUED

KEY

** = Letter of acceptance held from receiving country

¶ = Passport now in Department of Foreign Affairs’ custody