VZCZCXRO5304
RR RUEHWEB
DE RUEHSB #0780/01 2741249
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 011249Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4968
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHPNH/NVC PORTSMOUTH 0161

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000780 
 
SIPDIS 
 
CA/FPP FOR M. LEDESMA-LEESE 
CA/EX FOR R. BOETTCHER 
DHS FOR CIS/FDNS 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO KCC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC ZI
SUBJECT: FRAUD SUMMARY - ZIMBABWE 
 
REF: A. STATE 57623 
 ¶B. STATE 97431 
 
¶1.  COUNTRY CONDITIONS: One year after the signing of the Global 
Political Agreement (GPA) that led to the February 2009 formation of 
a new unity government, tension remains between and within 
Zimbabwe's major political parties.  Several issues remain 
unresolved, to include the restoration of basic human rights, 
respect for the rule of law, and the ability of the government to 
feed its people.  Within the new government, leaders of the Movement 
for Democratic Change (MDC) claim the inclusive government is living 
up to its promise, while blaming leaders of the Zimbabwe African 
National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) for lack of progress in 
restoring human rights and rule of law.  Conversely, ZANU-PF blames 
the MDC for not pressuring the U.S. and EU to lift sanctions. 
 
¶2. Against this backdrop, corruption flourishes within the 
Zimbabwean civil service, resulting in a near total collapse of 
government controls over passports and official documents.  Civil 
servants receive roughly USD 150 per month, making them vulnerable 
to bribes and kickbacks for basic subsistence.  As a result, 
document vendors flourish, and post has seen a sharp increase in the 
number of fraudulent civil documents produced from official blanks. 
In addition, the dollarization of the economy has resulted in a rash 
of counterfeit U.S. dollars entering circulation.  In a new trend 
seen this reporting period, post has seen questionable student 
examination results, strongly suggesting corruption within the 
Zimbabwean Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC). 
 
¶3.  NIV FRAUD:  Student visa applications accounted for 
approximately 15 percent of our NIV workload this half, with line 
officers increasingly encountering fraudulent educational records or 
financial documents.  In spite of our strained diplomatic relations 
at the ministerial level, our FPU has enjoyed a good working 
relationship with the Zimbabwean Schools Examination Council 
(ZIMSEC), which has been very responsive in verifying transcripts 
and education levels.  However, within the past few months we have 
noted a disturbing trend involving fraudulent original O and A level 
testing reports.  Previously, the consular section had only seen 
amateurish attempts to produce fraudulent school certificates but 
never witnessed the presentation of fake certified copies of the 
test reports given by ZIMSEC.  The excellent document quality for 
these fake test reports suggests that a high level staff member at 
ZIMSEC has been involved in selling these reports.  This new fraud 
trend was only detected because an applicant who presented one of 
these fraudulent test reports had also applied for a student visa in 
2008 and the consular officer doubted that her A Level results would 
have improved so dramatically in one year.  Because we now believe 
that ZIMSEC has been compromised, we have begun verifying A and O 
Level test results and certificates with the schools the applicants 
attended.  Although this independent check will require additional 
effort from our FPU, we believe it is necessary in cases where the 
applicants have yet to receive their O and A Level Certificates. 
(Note:  Zimbabwe students normally sit for exams in June and 
November.  Results are typically delivered in three months, but 
actual certificates are taking in excess of six months.  End Note.) 
 
¶4.  Perhaps motivated by the formation of the inclusive government, 
we have seen a dramatic increase in NIV applications by applicants 
Qwe have seen a dramatic increase in NIV applications by applicants 
who are on the OFAC sanctions list.  We have sent SAOs in all of 
these cases.  The Department has confirmed 212 (f) ineligibilities 
in 18 cases and a remaining 6 cases are still pending Department 
approval.  (When told they were ineligible to travel to the U.S., 
many applicants have argued that there should no longer be a 
sanctions list since there is now an inclusive government.) 
 
¶5. Approximately 10 percent of all NIV interviews are translated 
from either Ndebele or Shona by members of our local staff. 
Recently, during one of these translated interviews, we had an 
applicant ask an interpreter for "help" in getting them a visa.  The 
staff member immediately informed the consular officer and the 
consular officer switched staff members.  As part of our management 
controls, we randomly select staff members for translation duties 
and conduct these interviews in front of the other local staff to 
ensure the veracity of the translation services being provided. 
 
 
¶6. IV FRAUD:  During this quarter, two IV cases were sent for 
revocation because the consular officer discovered that there was no 
qualifying relationship between the petitioner and beneficiary at 
the time the petition was filed.  In both cases, the divorce decree 
which was submitted as proof of the termination of the biological 
mother's marriage to the beneficiary's biological father were 
determined to be fraudulent documents.  This was determined by the 
High Court of Zimbabwe, which allegedly issued the divorce decrees. 
Additionally, in one of the cases, a Lexis-Nexis check revealed that 
the petitioner, who is the step-father of the beneficiary, had 
 
HARARE 00000780  002.5 OF 004 
 
 
divorced the beneficiary's biological mother on August 19, 2008 -- a 
year prior to the beneficiary's interview. 
 
¶7.  DV FRAUD:  Instances of DV fraud are rare in Harare and there 
was only one case during this period. It involved an applicant 
submitting false O Level certificates to demonstrate that she met 
the Diversity Visa requirement of having attained the equivalent of 
a high school diploma.  After being confronted by the consular 
officer with an email from ZIMSEC stating that the certificates were 
fraudulent, the applicant admitted to buying the certificates from a 
local document vendor for approx USD 150. The applicant admitted 
that more was to be paid if she had received her visa. 
 
¶8.  ACS AND PASSPORT FRAUD: DNA testing continues to be one of our 
most important verification tools in adjudicating questionable 
claims to citizenship. During this period, we had four cases 
referred to the FPU for citizenship verification. All of the cases 
began as applications for Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBA) 
submitted at post for babies born in Zimbabwe.  In all of the cases 
we were able to confirm the father's U.S. citizenship.  However, all 
the children were born out of wedlock, and in three of the four 
cases the parents did not live together.  Unable to reconcile or 
verify the dates of conception with the dates of birth, we requested 
DNA confirmation of parentage in all four cases.  To date we have 
been able to confirm the biological relationship in two cases, with 
two cases still pending. 
 
¶9. We had one false claim to citizenship during this reporting 
period.  A young man of 14 showed up at post claiming to be an 
American citizen.  He based his story on a photograph of a white 
man, who he said had traveled with him from the U.S. to France, 
Tanzania, Zambia and finally Zimbabwe.  There were a number of fraud 
indicators in the case including: lack of documentary evidence to 
support the citizenship claim, no identification documents from the 
applicant, a strong foreign accent by the applicant, and no social 
security number.  With the help of a local NGO who provided 
counselors and psychologists to speak with the young man, it was 
established that the applicant was most likely an illegal immigrant 
from Ethiopia who was falsely claiming American citizenship. 
 
 
¶10. In another example of how it pays dividends to judiciously use 
limited validity passports in cases of questionable reports of 
lost/stolen passports, an American who reported a second lost/stolen 
passport returned with the first passport that he had reported 
stolen the year before.  The American now demanded that we issue a 
full validity passport since he could account for the previously 
"stolen passport."  After running a routine name check on the 
American citizen, we discovered that he had an outstanding U.S. 
Marshall's warrant, which had not appeared during the name check the 
year prior.  Working closely with the Regional Security Office, we 
cancelled the American's valid passport and issued him a limited 
validity passport for direct return to the U.S. only.  The Regional 
Security Office escorted the American to the airport and notified 
the police in Denver that he was returning to the United States. 
The American was picked up at the airport on arrival and arrested 
immediately. 
 
 
¶11.  We have had one instance of passport mutilation during this 
quarter.  It involved a 20-year-old American citizen who had altered 
the year of birth on his passport from 1989 to 1981 in order to gain 
Qthe year of birth on his passport from 1989 to 1981 in order to gain 
access to the university campus bar.  We cancelled the passport and 
recommended issuance of a limited validity passport. 
 
¶12. ADOPTION FRAUD:  None this reporting period. 
 
¶13. USE OF DNA TESTING:  Per Ref B, post has established DNA sample 
kits a controlled item with the ACO responsible for the chain of 
custody.  In addition, all tests (swabs) will now be conducted at 
the consular section, vice the panel physician's office. 
 
¶14. Post uses DNA testing as a means of last resort to confirm 
biological relationships.  Upon identification of fraud indicators 
that cause the adjudication officer to suspect the relationship, the 
case is referred to the FPU, applicants are asked to submit 
supplemental evidence, and civil documents are sent for 
verification.  Only after investigation by the FPU, are applicants 
recommended for DNA testing as a means to confirm the alleged 
relationship.  Post's FPU witnessed 14 DNA tests this half.  13 
Results confirmed the relationship, with 1 still outstanding. 
 
¶15. ASYLUM AND OTHER DHS BENEFITS FRAUD:  The country's political 
turmoil and human rights abuses have resulted in a quantum leap in 
our V92/93 cases.  In the last six months, we have received an 
additional 14 cases, processed to completion eight, leaving us with 
a backlog of 96.  Many of these cases have multiple fraud 
 
HARARE 00000780  003.3 OF 004 
 
 
indicators, and will require considerable time by our FPU to 
investigate.  After consulting with our Regional Consular Officer, 
we issued termination notices for all cases that have languished 
beyond 180 days, followed by petition return for those without a 
positive response. So far, we have sent nine cases for revocation 
based solely on the fact that nothing has occurred in the case for 
more than 200 days. 
 
 
¶16. The Consular Section has noticed an increase in the approval of 
questionable asylum petitions, including one recently filed by an 
asylee whose husband still works for the Government of Zimbabwe and 
has adamantly rejected any opportunity to follow his wife to the 
states.  Because of this, we would ask the Department's help in 
communicating to DHS a better set of criteria for adjudicating these 
types of claims. Specifically, the consular section suggests that 
approved petitions have at least a plurality of the criteria set 
forth below: 
 
¶A.  Applicants can provide specific dates of torture and abuse and 
can explain who tortured them and how. In the questionable cases, we 
have seen applicants merely state, "In June 2001 I was tortured." 
Some torture techniques, such as falanga (beating on the soles of 
the feet) and beating on the back or buttocks with logs or sticks, 
are particularly common.  During election periods, torture is often 
perpetrated by ZANU-PF youths at so-called "bases" in rural areas. 
 
¶B.  Many victims of State-sponsored persecution have had their 
houses burned or destroyed. 
 
¶C.  Victims should be able to articulate their role and 
responsibilities in MDC or related organization. 
 
¶D.  Victims of torture have frequently been so severely beaten that 
they required hospitalization or would have scars from the torture 
they experienced.  Falanga injuries are often not visible, but can 
be detected with x-rays or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). 
 
¶E.  The consular section and the Human Rights officer have witnessed 
a concerted effort by the Government of Zimbabwe to also assault the 
family members of those involved in supporting the opposition 
movement.  Also, sexual assault amongst female relatives was very 
high, particularly after a husband or son had already sought 
asylum. 
 
¶F.  Generally, those suffering from political persecution did not 
buy plane tickets to the U.S. in Zimbabwe because they were afraid 
the Central Intelligence Office (CIO) would find out. 
 
¶G.  Credible victims of political persecution are normally able to 
provide specific examples of how their political membership or 
activism had been documented by CIO, i.e. "I attended this rally on 
such and such a date where I was arrested." 
 
¶H.  Many threatened people told their families beforehand that they 
were leaving and seeking asylum in the U.S. 
 
¶17. ALIEN SMUGGLING, TRAFFICKING, ORGANIZED CRIME, TERRORIST TRAVEL: 
 Nothing to report. 
 
¶18. DS CRIMINAL FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS:  Post's consular section and 
the RSO have been cooperating with a DS Washington Field Office 
investigation involving a Zimbabwe family issued A1 visas on 13 
March 2008. 
 
¶19. HOST COUNTRY PASSPORT, IDENTITY DOCUMENTS, and CIVIL REGISTRY: 
As previously reported, corruption has become endemic within the 
Zimbabwean civil service, resulting in a near total collapse of 
government controls over passports and official documents. Document 
vendors have access to official "blanks" and absent verification, 
post has no confidence in Zimbabwean civil documents filed or 
Qpost has no confidence in Zimbabwean civil documents filed or 
printed within the past three years. 
 
¶20. COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES:  On a working 
level, we have strong and effective relationships with all the 
document registries and with the government printing office. 
 
¶21. AREA OF PARTICULAR CONCERN:  NIV petition-based applications, 
student applications, IV step-parent petitions, asylum processing, 
and counterfeit currency.  Due to the banking situation in Zimbabwe, 
all consular fees, including all MRV fees, are collected by the 
consular cashier in cash, U.S. dollars only.  In the past six months 
we have discovered four counterfeit notes which have been turned over 
to the Secret Service via the RSO. 
 
¶22. STAFFING AND TRAINING:  Post thanks CA/EX for funding advanced 
consular training for vice consul Amy Diaz and IV training for LES 
 
HARARE 00000780  004.4 OF 004 
 
 
Lizzie Zambu. Both have returned to work re-energized and with new 
ideas on how to streamline our processing. 
 
PETTERSON