FRAUD SUMMARY - TAJIKISTAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000195 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR CA/FPP; DEPT ALSO PASS TO KCC; POSTS FOR FRAUD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC TI SUBJECT: FRAUD SUMMARY - TAJIKISTAN REF: STATE 205073 DUSHANBE 00000195 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) COUNTRY CONDITIONS: Tajikistan, independent since the Soviet breakup in 1991, is the poorest Central Asian republic and the ninth poorest country per capita in the world. The vast majority of the population lives well below the poverty line, inducing many working-age Tajik males to become migrant workers in Russia rather than face rampant unemployment and underemployment in Tajikistan. Though some Tajiks legally work abroad and remit their earnings back to Tajikistan, trafficking in narcotics and persons, as well as a large black and gray economy, increase the use of fraudulent documents. Fraudulent document venders are prevalent and target the migrant labor population, as well as the local small-time trading community. ¶2. (SBU) Though anti-corruption laws exist in theory, enforcement and implementation remain elusive. Corrupt government officials continue to thwart attempts to tighten the issuance and regulation of national identity documents. Instances of fraudulently issued domestic and international passports are highly suspected, though Tajik officials will not address this issue directly with Embassy officials. [NOTE: Tajikistan continues to use domestic passports for travel and registration for Tajik nationals within the country, and a separately issued international passport for travel outside of Tajikistan. Approximately 15% of the population has an international passport and large bribes are expected to receive a new one.] The defunct skeleton of the former Soviet record-keeping system and the lack of integrated or organized local and national archives make investigation and verification of Tajik-issued documents difficult at best, irrelevant at worst. Across the board, documents from bank and real estate statements to birth and marriage certificates can easily be obtained fraudulently for any purpose. ¶3. (SBU) Embassy Dushanbe will not issue non-immigrant visas in Tajikistan until the completion of its New Embassy Compound in Summer 2006. Tajik nationals currently travel to Almaty, Kazakhstan, to interview for non-immigrant and immigrant visas. ¶4. (SBU) NIV FRAUD: Lack of trust in Tajik documents makes it very difficult to assess local social and economic ties. Tajikistan remains a very traditional society: Tajiks do not typically put money in banks and letters of employment (even government positions) are often created and issued within family and clan structures. Tajiks will change passports and names to conceal previous visa refusals thanks to Tajik officials who exhibit a cavalier disregard for the sanctity of national identity documents. Recently, a group of Russian sportsmen were issued Tajik international passports listing their nationality and place of birth as Tajikistan for the purposes of representing Tajikistan in an international competition. ¶5. (SBU) IV FRAUD: Post accepts and processes a limited number of I-130 petitions (approximately one a month). Marriage fraud in Tajikistan is not common apart from DV applicants. Tajik society is very traditional and is generally not open to marriage to foreign citizens. In addition, there are relatively few Tajik-Americans, negating the rampant marriage fraud that comes with large diaspora communities. ¶6. (SBU) DV FRAUD: DV fraud in Tajikistan echoes that of the Central Asian region. Almaty recently reported a sham marriage (pop-up derivative) in a Tajik DV case. Though high school equivalent documents cannot be trusted implicitly, Tajiks roughly fall into two categories and can be assessed based on overall life situation: agricultural laborers from the villages and mountains (unlikely to have earned a high school education) and city residents (usually have college degrees in addition to high school equivalent education). ¶7. (SBU) ACS and PASSPORT FRAUD: Post has yet to record ACS or passport fraud in Tajikistan. Due to the small American citizen community, the Consular Officer and Embassy local staff are often personally acquainted with resident Americans. Few Tajiks have U.S. citizenship, CRBA's are issued no more than once a year, and many of the Americans resident in Tajikistan have diplomatic or official passports. Lost or stolen passports are rare occurrences and in the past few years lost passports were often returned within one week of disappearance. ¶8. (SBU) ADOPTION FRAUD: Very few U.S. citizens successfully adopt in Tajikistan. Those who choose to follow the full legal adoption system are often forced to give up due to senseless bureaucratic wrangling. The government of Tajikistan does not have a set of laws governing international adoption and is reluctant to make progress, leaving a chaotic and arbitrary process. Large unofficial bribes are suspected to be the reason for the few completed adoptions in Tajikistan. There are no NGOs or agencies in Tajikistan that work on adoption issues, and DUSHANBE 00000195 002.2 OF 002 an American citizen recently could not even find Tajik lawyers or judges willing to look at his adoption case. ¶9. (SBU) Fraudulent documents required for adoption are not difficult to obtain. During an I-604 orphan investigation, post discovered forged hospital records and a fraudulent birth certificate submitted "by mistake" by a self-declared adoption facilitator. The birth certificate, fraudulently issued by a Tajik hospital, listed the adoption facilitator and his wife as the orphan's birth parents. The facilitator intended to use this birth certificate in order to transport the adopted child as his own to Almaty for visa processing and was caught because he accidentally left it in the packet of information he submitted for the I-604. ¶10. (SBU) ASYLUM AND OTHER DHS BENEFITS FRAUD: Post assists DHS to verify documents and determine status. Though Tajik documents are not to be trusted as a rule, recent investigations discovered exact cases of documented fraud. In a recent asylum case, post's investigation revealed a forged birth certificate that was material in final determination of asylum status in the United States. ¶11. (SBU) COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES: Document fraud is technically a criminal offence in Tajikistan. In combating these crimes, the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs is at best an occasionally competent partner. The MFA periodically informs us by diplomatic note about the numbers of lost or stolen Tajik passports, and also cooperates with post's requests for verification of civil documents (though usually months later than requested). But endemic corruption, shoddy record keeping, and lack of prosecution for document fraud limit the utility of cooperation. ¶12. (U) AREAS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN: Post will address new concerns and increase examples of documented fraud once NIV processing begins in Tajikistan in Summer 2006. An expected boom in NIV applicants, able to interview in their own capital for the first time, will undoubtedly increase the frequency and complexity of NIV fraud. ¶13. (U) STAFFING AND TRAINING: Dushanbe Consular Section Chief Evan McCarthy is also Post Prevention Manager. He expects to complete the Fraud Prevention for Managers course at FSI in Spring 2006. Post currently has one Consular FSN, Natalia Pilipenko, and will hire two additional positions for the opening of the new fully functional Consular section, one of which will be FSN fraud investigator. Natalia has received visa and document fraud training during the FSN Consular Training Seminar at RSC Frankfurt, October 1998. HOAGLAND