Swedish Minister Resigns Over Amarkai's Scam...

...Pressure Mounts On Gov't

The Swedish government and Mr. Amarkai Amarteifio, ex- PNDC minister and Honorary Consul of Sweden in Ghana, have come under massive condemnations from international human rights organizations and the Swedish Parliament for dumping illegal deportees in Ghana.

The Swedish Parliament and Swedish political parties have bemoaned the deportation of one Mr. Peter Ekwiri, a Ugandan political asylum seeker who was painfully deported to Ghana on the orders of Mr. Amarkai Amarteifio.

Amarkai had told the Swedish government that Ekwiri was a Ghanaian.

Swedish Minister of Migration, Maj. Inger Klingvall, has so far been summoned on two occasions to the floor of the Swedish Parliament to answer questions on the unlawful deportation of other nationals to Ghana, particularly Peter Ekwiri.

He was also questioned on why he paid thousands of taxpayers' money to Mr. Amarkai Amarteifio.

Inger Kligvall, who came under pressure following the expose of the deportation syndicate in Ghana, has resigned as minister.

According to Chronicle investigations she resigned due to what has been described as "failures in the field of legislation and asylum procedures".

Before her resignation, the Minister of Migration lost her seat on leading boards of Social Democrats.

The final blow to her political career was when she again lost a very important vote in the Swedish parliament on a reform of the Aliens Appeals Board.

All these were as a result of the deportation syndicate, which was reported in the Ghanaian Chronicle and in a documentary by Nordisk film TV, a Swedish television station.

Members of the Swedish Parliament, including Mr. Kerstin-Maria Stalin, have questioned the Minister of Migration on the deportations of other nationals to Ghana.

Kerstin has also asked for a justification of the "thousands of dollars" paid to Mr. Amarkai. The practice was described in Swedish Parliament as "unethical and illegal".

The Minister was also warned to ensure that such practices should come to an end and that the nationality of deportees must be established by the Swedish authorities before they are deported.

Chronicle has gathered that the Greens and the Left Parties, supporters of the current government, have made these illegal deportations to Ghana a very serious issue in Sweden.

According to information reaching the Chronicle, the Danish Centre for Human Rights has also begun investigations into the circumstances which led to the deportation of Peter Ekwiri to Ghana as well as the other cases of dumping of illegal deportees in Ghana by the Swedish government.

Chronicle sources in Sweden hinted that the Danish human rights group is also looking at whether the deportation of Peter Ekwiri to Ghana could be regarded as a conventional case since it seems that some articles in the Human Rights Conventions have been violated.

Mr. Gregor Noli, of the Danish Human Rights Centre is reported to have assured that he will investigate all the fourteen illegal Swedish deportations to Ghana by the Swedish authorities.

Mr. Gregor, who is reported to be very upset with the systematic practice and neglect of illegal Swedish deportations to Ghana, has been quoted as saying that he is planning to run the case through the European court on Human Rights.

Chronicle also learnt that the Swedish branch of Amnesty International has also reported the illegal dumping of Swedish deportees to Ghana to their headquarters in London.

This follows the Ghanaian Chronicle report and a documentary broadcast by Nordisk Film TV in Sweden.

Investigations have revealed that after the illegal deportation syndicate was exposed, an investigation was ordered by the Judicial Department of the Stockholm Police which was chaired by one Lena Kangas.

The investigations also touched on allegations of bribery against the Swedish police who were accused by International Human Rights groups of using Mr. Amarkai to bribe some officers of the Ghana Immigration Service.

Chronicle has gathered that the Swedish Immigration authorities, who are smarting under serious criticisms from international groups, have produced Mr. Peter Ewkiri's Act which further indicts the Swedish authorities.

The Act stated "Ekwiri's nationality was not clear. Ekwiri has been considered a Ghanaian by the Swedish authorities. This conclusion also won support from the authorities in Ghana. The Ghanaian authorities decided to accept Peter Ekwiri, who has declared himself as a Sudanese and Ugandan".

Based on the fact that Ghana had accepted the illegal deportation of Peter Ekwiri, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said

"We dismiss the criticisms against the embassy and Lars Ekstrom's (Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria) way of handling the case. There have not been any demands from Ghana that Sweden should come for Ekwiri "

Mr. Ekstrom, Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria, who was also involved in the deportation of Ekwiri to Ghana, had lied that Ekwiri himself had said that he was a Ghanaian.

Meanwhile, Mr. Amarkai has admitted that he was the one who said Ekwiri was Ghanaian because of a word which he claimed was similar to a an Akan word International Human Rights groups have shifted their criticisms on to the government of Ghana and questioned its respect for human rights and humans dignity.

"Your government has provided an escape route for the Swedish authorities for this serious offence by refusing to ask the Swedish government to come back for Ekwiri, who has suffered in Ghana for several years. How come that in Ghana you can imprison somebody without trying him?" a human rights activist who spoke on phone to Chronicle from Sweden lamented.

He did not even listen to explanation from the Chronicle that the new government of Ghana is barely a year old and might not be well informed about the case.

"Don't they read newspapers, weren't there any human rights organizations before they took office, I am very shocked about this case" he said.

Meanwhile Chronicle has evidence that before Peter Ekwiri was dumped in Ghana about seven years ago, there was an agreement between Amarkai and one Tony Hast of the Swedish Kriminalvarden (Criminal Department of Swedish Police" that if it turned out that Ekwiri was not a Ghanaian they will come back for him.

Captioned "Reception of Deportee in Country of Destination" Tony Hast stated in his report to the Swedish police that "Peter Ekwiri's identity could not be approved during our stay, but it was decided that he should be kept there (in Ghana) for further investigation.

The condition was that we guarantee his (Ekwiri's) journey back home if it turns out that he is not of Ghanaian origin.

Already, Mr. Per E. Samuelson, from one of the most famous law firms in Sweden 'Silbersky', who intends to sue the Swedish authorities, has written to the Swedish police to honour their promise of bringing Ekwiri back to Sweden.

"The ministry says that Ekwiri has been accepted in Ghana. Fait accompli.

Now that is their only defence,"a human rights lawyer told the Chronicle yesterday.

It would be recalled that Chronicle in its banner headline broke the story on the deportation of Mr. Peter Ekwiri, a Ugandan political asylum seeker who was deported to Ghana because Mr. Amarkai, after listening to his recorded voice mistakenly said that he was a Ghanaian and should be deported to Ghana.

The story also exposed a deportation syndicate between the Swedish government and Mr. Amarkai Amarteifio, the honorary Consul of Sweden in Accra in which non-Ghanaians had been deported to Ghana by Amarkai, who acted as a language specialist.

The story catalogued several cases of illegal deportations okayed by Mr.

Amarkai and several thousands of dollars paid to him for okaying such deportations.