Captive in Kuwait:
Contract dispute leaves 100 Americans stranded on US Army bases
Published June 18,
2013
FoxNews.com
At least 100 American citizens have been
trapped for months on two U.S. bases inside Kuwait after local police unjustly
issued warrants for their arrest, a U.S. defense contractor told FoxNews.com.
Most of the Americans were working as
Arabic translators for Global Linguist Solutions, which ended a lucrative deal
with its sponsoring Kuwaiti subcontractor, Al Shora International General
Trading & Contracting and signed on with another company. Sources told
FoxNews.com Al Shora's managing director is the sister-in-law of the Kuwaiti
prime minister.
When the contract ended Feb. 17, Al Shora
refused to transfer the employees' visas to the new Kuwaiti subcontractor and
falsely accused the Americans of being "runaways and absconders," according
to Charles Tolleson, president of Global Linguist Solutions. His company has
barred workers from leaving the bases since May 31 to protect them from arrest
and imprisonment.
"We don’t see any hope. We’re dealing
with a corrupt company in Kuwait that has fabricated charges against us." - American citizen trapped on U.S. base in
Kuwait. "My biggest concern is the safety and
security of my employees in Kuwait," he said.
One of the employees, who contacted
FoxNews.com Tuesday morning from Camp Buehring, said, "If we leave the
base, we could be arrested by the Kuwaiti authorities, jailed or
deported."
"We cannot see the doctor even for an
emergency," said the woman, who asked that her name not be used.
"Everybody here is under stress because a lot of us here need to go home.
Our families are worried about us. We need to see our kids... We don’t see any
hope. We’re dealing with a corrupt company in Kuwait that has fabricated
charges against us."
She said the Al Shora's managing director
"cancelled all of our visas here, so we became illegal."
Camp Buehring is in the Kuwaiti desert,
about 25 miles south of the Iraqi border. Other employees of Global Linguistics
are similarly stuck at Camp Arifjan, another U.S. Army base inside Kuwait.
Al Shora is demanding $22 million from
Global Linguistics in order to transfer the employees' visas to the new
company, Kuwaiti Resources House, sources said. Under Kuwaiti law, foreigners
cannot work in the country unless they are under the sponsorship of a private
Kuwaiti company.
After his company re-bid its contract
several months ago and opted to chose the new Kuwaiti company, "Al Shora
basically embarked on a campaign to destroy my company," Tolleson said.
"There’s no contract dispute. I don’t
even have a contract with them anymore," he said of Al Shora. "If a
sponsor is no longer a sponsor, they are required to simply transfer [the
visas] to the new sponsor. This happens all the time. They won’t do that, and
that violates the terms of their former contract."
A representative from the Kuwaiti prime
minister's office said he was not aware of the situation. "This is the first time I heard about
this," the representative, who declined to give his name, told
FoxNews.com. "This kind of behavior has never happened."
He had no comment when asked if the Al
Shora's managing director was related to Kuwaiti Prime Minister Jaber
Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah
Tolleson said that when he approached the
U.S. military about the situation, "I was told this is my problem."
The office for the U.S. Ambassador to
Kuwait referred all inquiries on the matter to the U.S. State Department.
“The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait is aware of
the commercial dispute involving a Department of Defense contractor and a local
Kuwaiti company," Beth Gosselin, as a State Department spokeswoman, told
FoxNews.com. "That dispute has had an impact on a number of private U.S.
citizens working in Kuwait.
"The protection of U.S. citizens
overseas is one of our highest priorities," Gosselin added. "The U.S.
Embassy is working with the private U.S. citizens and is providing them with
appropriate consular assistance. The Embassy continues to monitor the situation
closely and is encouraging an immediate resolution to this difficult
issue."
At least three of the linguists reportedly
spent seven days in a crowded, filthy jail after being caught outside their
base. Majdi Abdulghani was detained by police May 9, as he prepared to board a
plane on an approved trip to Jordan to visit his sick mother, the military
newspaper Stars and Stripes reported.
He spent seven days in jail before being
flown back to the U.S., according to the newspaper.
HAHAHA You seriously don't believe our police are able to do that to an American Citizen? The worst thing this company can do is deport them. You have been in Kuwait long enough you should know that by now.
ReplyDeleteThey say, "There is always two sides to a story", hence, as per the Arabtimes (you know that well written paper) this is HER side of the story and of course she's running in the next election.
ReplyDeletePoll-runner denies role in US staffs visa row
Law taking its course: Al-Galawi
KUWAIT CITY, June 30: Reham Al-Galawi who is contesting elections to the National Assembly from the Third Constituency has denied the ‘false accusations’ filed against her by one of the US companies.
She is accused of not allowing the cancellation of residence permits of hundreds of US employees and forcing them to stay at the Al-Udair US base because they cannot leave. However, Al-Galawi has admitted that she and the Al-Shura company has taken legal procedures because they are ‘runaways and absconders’. In response to what was published by the Washington Times in this regard, Al-Galawi asks: “Is it possible that 100 US men are jailed without I am being held accountable?”
She added the dispute is related to conclusion of the contract last January. She said she met with representatives from the US Embassy and the US Army in Kuwait last March and also the representative of the US company, who had then promised to send them to complete the procedures for cancellation of residence permit in Kuwait, but he failed to keep his promise. So the Al-Shoura company completed the procedures of reporting the US employees as absconders.
Al-Galawi explained she met with the employees two weeks ago and they admitted that their company has threatened not to communicate with her as a sponsor. She said the company would issue instructions to them. She added the query on this subject can be through contacts with the Consul for US Citizens Affairs at the US Embassy. The Washington Times reported that “100 workers were stranded at a US military base northwest of Kuwait for not renewing the contract with the company” Global Linguist Solutions, noting that the local agent Al Shura did not transfer their residency and that a search and arrest warrant had been issued against them.