Nigeria: Security forces fail to respect human rights
Mobile Property Show moved from five star hotel to Indian embassy premises
NRI Families throng Embassy premise which is converted into an exhibition hall. Pictured above is perhaps the youngest NRI visitor to the property show. Click the picture for detailed view (KM Photograph)
Representatives of nearly 25 Indian companies representing construction, housing finance and real estate consultants had to seek timely intervention of the Indian Embassy, Muscat to conduct a Mobile Property Show and market housing projects to the Non Resident Indians. Various company representatives and senior executives who reached Muscat with their bags and belongings to market multimillion construction projects at the "Property Show venue in a Five Star Hotel (Sheraton) had received a shock treatment because the local sponsors of the event said they could not get the required permission from the law enforcement authorities to organize the property show.
The company representatives including ladies had come all the way from India (after participating in Bahrain and Kuwait Property shows), thinking that the local organizer would organize everything for them. They did not face any difficulty in other Gulf countries because of efficient handling of the situation.
Representatives of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) and the Construction and Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) approached the Indian Embassy to help them out from the messy situation. They had given wide publicity to the event in the local media through advertisement and media statements. Ultimately the Indian Embassy Muscat took the bold step of organizing the property exhibition within the embassy premises itself. According to local rules any exhibition or property show organizers should get the prior approval of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the law enforcement authorities. "We received the permission from the Ministry of commerce and Industry. However, the police permission did not come on time and since Thursday and Friday were holidays, the local organizer could not obtain permission," said the representatives of MHDI.
Busy property deals
Since promoting Indian business ventures is part of the embassy mission, the Indian Embassy Muscat ground floor was immediately converted into an exhibition hall. Large number of Indian families, who came to Hotel Sheraton, had to be transported to the nearby Indian Embassy. The name of the show, "Mobile Property Show" turned out to be literally true, as everything had to be transported from the hotel to the Embassy. The timely intervention of the embassy in fact saved the face of prominent Non Resident Indians behind the show. The show was organized successfully and Indian companies got many serious inquiries. "It would have been an embarrassing situation for the Indian company executives to go back without conducting the property show." It turned out to be a unique event because many property shows were earlier conducted in the same five star hotel. Normally the hotel gets necessary clearance for the show. This time there appeared to be some serious problems beyond the control of the organisers.
Two lady marketing executives awaiting customers at the Embassy premises.
It is learned that the local authorities have been seriously concerned about a number of complaints against dubious property developers and construction companies, not only from India, but also from other parts of the world. Such dubious players have duped many customers who have complained to the local police. There have been cases where construction company representatives will come and present colour brochures to impress the NRIs and local investors. But now nobody will buy property on the spot before physically verifying the building either directly or through their relatives back home.
In one case, a company started a posh office in a Five Star Hotel and started selling prime property in the UK for a minimum initial investment of RO 1000 (equivalent to Rs. 1.25 lakh). The company offered a house in the UK plus an entry visa, which attracted many expatriate investors. More than 100 investors including Indians, Pakistanis and Arabs were duped by the Dubai based company, which collected RO 300 cash in advance from them and the balance in cheque. Within a short span of one or two months, they could collect RO 300,00 (Rs. 35 lakhs) from innocent people and could vanish without leaving any trace. The funny part is that their promotion material came through Internet and emails. Many expatriates invested RO 1, 000 in the non-existing UK property thinking that they are buying a fortune to enter the UK job market. Such dubious property investment options are coming through the Internet and people must be aware of the risk involved.
Similarly an Indian construction company from Bangalore duped several NRIs, mainly Keralites who were virtually cheated by the local agent. Since there are several such complaints about erring construction and real estate agents, it was not very easy to get permission from the local law enforcement authorities. Even the biggest Indian business house in Muscat could not do anything in such an embarrassing situation. "Fraud is an integral part of construction and real estate business all over the world. Customers have to be very careful about investing huge amounts without verifying the tall claims," warns an expert. (keralamonitor.com)
Nigeria: Security forces fail to respect human rights
ABIDJAN, 20 December (IRIN) - Attempts by security forces to stem the rise in crime and inter-communal conflicts had resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, Amnesty International said on Thursday in a new report on Nigeria entitled "Security forces in Nigeria: Serving to protect and respect human rights?" On many occasions, it said, the violence appeared to have been unleashed with government complacency and even outright complicity.
"The federal police and the armed forces are responsible for numerous human rights violations on a regular basis in their policing activities, ranging from extrajudicial executions to death in custody, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of suspects," Amnesty said.
In many instances, torture in police cells results in death, it pointed out, adding that the police usually attribute such deaths in custody to alleged attempts to escape. "Victims are labelled as armed robbers to deny them any form of popular sympathy and to justify inaction by superiors within the police who only rarely attempt to investigate these cases," it noted.
Extra-judicial executions of criminal suspects not in custody are often linked to operations by special task forces assigned to patrol streets and highways to control armed robbery, the report said. It noted however that they also occurred during violence or illegal activities by some members of the police force, including illegal checkpoints set up to extort bribes from citizens.
Amid general concern over crime, the report stated, serious flaws in the legal system had permitted the police to routinely label citizens as "suspects of armed robbery or murder" without any substantial evidence, resulting in extremely lengthy periods-in most cases years- of detention without charge or trial.
"The poor performance of the Nigerian police in effectively tackling crime, constant allegations of human rights violation during law enforcement activities and the sense of mistrust which they inspire among Nigerians, have also facilitated the creation of armed vigilante groups at local and state level, which routinely carry out summary executions, unlawful detention and inflict torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment on suspected criminals," Amnesty added.
Serious Inquries from NRI investors.
