With less than a week left for Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade’s formal indictment in New York for visa fraud, New Delhi’s pressure on the American embassy here has begun to hit where it hurts.
Two fresh diplomatic notes verbales accessed by Mail Today reveal that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) wants the embassy’s club shut down and the sale of duty-free liquor within it to end.
The commissary in the US Embassy in New Delhi that sells duty-free liquor is not allowed to do so, and this should be discontinued, one of the notes verbales says.
“We have a suspicion that the US commissary is making profits by selling duty-free liquor and other items to diplomats from other countries. This must stop immediately,” an MEA source told Mail Today.
The US commissary, which sells duty-free liquor, wine and exotic foreign goods at cheap prices, is favoured by many Western diplomats.
The second diplomatic note confirms what Mail Today reported earlier – that the government has sent a formal notice to the embassy to shut the American Club situated near its Gate E.
The club, whose official name is the American Community Support Association (ACSA), has a restaurant, swimming pool, soccer field, tennis court besides a host of facilities used by American diplomats and US nationals in India.
Eateries at the club include the Out of India Restaurant, Delhi Diner Snack Bar, The Great Escape Bar, Windward Café Poolside Bar, besides the Cafeteria.
The club also has a gymnasium, swimming pool, and bowling alley besides a gift shop and a DVD rental shop.
The note verbale says that the US is violating diplomatic protocol by running a beauty salon, restaurant and other facilities, and that these should be shut within 10 days.
ACSA has seven categories of members, including non-diplomats in categories such as guest members, affiliate members, and affiliate special members. It also provides membership to diplomats of other countries who also make duty free purchases at the commissary.
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Officials say many non-diplomats, including some persons from the corporate world, have been allowed duty-free purchases as well as use of the facilities in violation of all norms.
The ongoing tussle will hurt the diplomatic community, especially their families, who have enjoyed the facilities at the American club.
The decision is clearly the fallout of the Devyani Khobragade incident, but MEA officials say that it also sets right a diplomatic anomaly as the Indian mission in the US has never enjoyed the special diplomatic privileges the US has been given here.
India has already told US interlocutors that Indo-US ties will come under severe strain if the US prosecutor Preet Bharara goes ahead with framing charges against Devyani, a development that will make the case even more complex.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs has been asked to look into alleged service tax violations by the US mission.
An air ticket purchased by the US embassy for the husband and family of Devyani’s maid Sangeeta Richard, who along with her family is now under the protection of the US Department of Homeland Security, has come in for specific mention.
Also under the scanner are movie screenings at the American Centre in New Delhi and similar other centres. The proposal suggests that the US was organising these screenings without any permissions or censor certificates, and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry will be asked to examine this.
Another recommendation that forms part of the MEA’s proposals is related to an understanding of 1973 between India and the US that exempted 16 employees of the American School from paying taxes.
This concession has been misused by the US mission and no American School staffer pays taxes now. This has also being referred to the Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance.
The MEA also wants to examine employment contracts of all local employees and make it mandatory for the US mission to file all contracts with the MEA.
These measures form part of a set of proposals aimed at putting pressure on the US establishment to make them realise the seriousness of the situation