NETHERLANDS ANTILLES: Granny Needed Work Permit?

Employer says he was not aware that granny needed work permit PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten's (Daily Herald), February 22, 2008: Kanaya Babani, the Indian businessman accused of illegally hiring a sixty-year-old woman and paying her US $131 per month – less than a third of the minimum wage – for the three years she had been working for him, says he was unaware that the elderly woman needed an employment permit. Babani has also been accused of locking the woman in his Saunders home against her will, a claim that he, several of his workers and the woman have denied. Babani, who has been in business here for more than 20 years, told The Daily Herald in a telephone interview from India that he hadn’t any idea that someone above age 60 needed papers. However, he had filed for Amrita’s (not her real name) permit when he brought her to St. Maarten to work as a caretaker and maid at his Saunders home, but said it had been turned down. He still kept her on the island. Hiring someone without an employment permit is punishable by a fine of up to NAf. 50,000 and the employer will have to pay all the back taxes owed to government, Prosecutor Taco Stein said. Babani also confirmed that the elderly woman did not have any medical insurance, but said he had paid all her medical bills. He also acknowledged that the necessary taxes had not been paid because “she was not declared.” Despite these infringements, Rakesh Pahalajani and Dominic Manuel, two of Babani’s workers, said their employer was a well-respected man who paid them well. Attorney Noor Mohammed, who is based in India, also stated that Amrita had come to St. Maarten of her own free will and was “very happy.” However, two businessmen in separate letters to this newspaper painted a different picture of Babani, saying he was “well known” among the Indian business community here to abuse his employees. Police removed Amrita from a heavily barred-up home in Saunders on Tuesday, February 12, after concerned persons alerted police that something was amiss. Police spokesman Chief Inspector Johan “Janchi” Leonard said police had had to cut locks from the outside of the house with a bolt-cutter to reach Amrita, who they said had been clearly relieved to have been “rescued.” However, the Hindi-speaking grandmother, who spoke to this reporter last Friday through an Indian interpreter, insisted that she was not being held against her will and that she had keys to the home, which had been locked from the inside. Leonard said though that police did not see how it would have been possible for her to open the locks, as the doors had been tightly secured from outside. Amrita is in protective custody and her case is being investigated, Stein said. Not ill-treated Babani was perturbed as to why the police had removed Amrita, as according to him, she was not in need of their help. He said too that the police had illegally broken into his bedroom and removed a “large sum” of money. Leonard said that after police had discovered that Babani had Amrita’s passport, they had begun looking for any identification for her and had stumbled upon the funds, which had been turned over to the Prosecutor’s Office. He said Babani would be able to retrieve the money once he had returned to the island and had been questioned by police. Pahalajani, who said Amrita had locked herself inside the house “for security reasons” and who said he had purchased groceries for her, said he initially had been unaware that the police had removed her and had become concerned when he did not see her last week. He started a frantic search and learned that the police had taken her away. Babani, who lives in the US, but has a business and properties in St. Maarten, said many Indians in St. Maarten were jealous of his good fortune and probably had made a fictitious report about Amrita to police because of their jealousy. He said Amrita was the caretaker of the home, took care of his plants, cooked Indian meals whenever he was in St. Maarten and had “the entire home to herself.” However, Amrita, who could barely walk because of severe pain in her joints and who complained of a toothache throughout the interview with this newspaper, said she slept on a bed in a corner of her employer’s living room and lived out of a suitcase. She never ventured off the premises alone, not even to purchase personal effects. She also had never had a vacation in the three years she worked in St. Maarten. Babani insists that she never wanted to leave the house. Salary There are conflicting reports as to exactly what Amrita’s salary was. Although Amrita had told The Daily Herald that her salary was 5,000 rupees ($131) per month. Babani said she earned 12,000 rupees (approximately $300) per month, which she requested be paid to her family in India. Babani said money had not been sent via any money transfer service and so he did not have any documentation to prove that this had been done. He said though that he had instructed his “rich” family in India to give Amrita’s family “whatever money they needed, whenever they needed it.” In a letter addressed to the Immigration Department, Babani’s India-based legal adviser Noor Mohammed said Amrita’s nephew and son in India had confirmed receiving 12,000 rupees each month. However, no receipts or other documentation were provided to substantiate this. St. Maarten’s minimum wage is NAf. 1,378 ($765) per month. By Judy H. Fitzpatrick Copyright ©2006 The Daily Herald, St. Maarten