Dig deeper
The Australian has done a follow-up on allegations that Philip Ruddock gave a man a visa in exchange for a donation to the Liberal Party. I asked whether the man had donated to the Liberal Party, and the answer now is no… but.
According to the man who ran the fundraiser, “Mr Hbeich is a poor man with five children and no money. He doesn’t make donations.” If I was a poor man with five children and facing deportation, I might think it’s worth scraping together a few thousand dollars to stay in the country, even if it meant selling my car. Still, if we accept Karim Kisrwani’s word, we come to the next question — did anybody donate money on Mr Hbeich’s behalf?
Philip Ruddock’s response hasn’t cleared anything up, either. He said, “Having checked my recollection and the other minister’s recollection, neither of us have any knowledge of donations being made at that particular function.”
The other minister is Ross Cameron. I find it very hard to believe that he doesn’t remember a donation, given this piece of information:
Karim Kisrwani, the Harris Park travel agent who Labor alleges arranged the donation, yesterday said the dinner at Romeo’s restaurant raised $22,000 for Mr Cameron…
Somebody gives you $22 000 and you don’t remember it? Yeah, right.
Somebody needs to do some more digging.
UPDATE: I just got an email that indicates more digging is indeed being done. This issue will be around for a while, I suspect.
UPDATE: The Sydney Morning Herald has a little bit more information on the relationship between Ruddock, Kisrwani, Hbeich and the South Lebanese Army:
A close business associate of Mr Ruddock’s in the Lebanese community, Karim Kisrwani, an organiser of the fund-raiser, told the Herald the bishop had “asked me to write a letter to the minister” about Mr Hbeiche’s case.
… Questions have been raised about Mr Ruddock’s protection visa decisions before. His granting of protection visas to Lebanese, and his links to the Lebanese community, have sparked controversy.
Visas have been granted to people associated with the South Lebanese Army, which has been linked to torture of prisoners.
Bishop Darwish said last night Mr Hbeiche was a former member of the South Lebanese Army.
In October 2001 it emerged that Mr Ruddock intervened with immigration officials’ decisions to grant a visa to the Iraqi father of a NSW Liberal candidate.
Curiouser and curiouser…
