14 theSun | WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 17 2008

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Sikhs take turban rights case to United Nations

NEW YORK: A Sikh rights group asked
a UN human rights committee on Mon-
day to declare that France violated a
student’s rights by expelling him for
wearing a turban and to recommend
repealing the law that led to it.
France passed a law in 2004
banning children in state primary
and secondary schools from wear-
ing conspicuous religious symbols,
including Muslim headscarves, Jewish
yarmulkes, large Christian crosses and
Sikh turbans.
Bikramjit Singh was 18 when he
was expelled from school in France
in 2004 for refusing to remove his
turban, according to a group called
United Sikhs, which held a civil rights
Conference in New York near the
United Nations on Monday.
Stephen Grosz, a lawyer for the
group, said United Sikhs had filed an
official communication with a General
Assembly committee dealing with hu-
man rights about Singh and two other
Sikhs who have been unable to renew
French identity documents because
they refused to remove their turbans
for photographs.
“What we’re asking the committee
to do is to find that the French state
has violated Bikramjit Singh’s rights
and to recommend that measures be
taken to rectify the decision,” Grosz
said in a conference call from London.
“That effectively would mean a
repeal of the law and its replacement
by something else,” he said.
The rights committee passes only
non-binding motions or recommenda-
tions which carry only moral weight.
One of the other cases was already
brought to the European Court of Hu-
man Rights, where it was dismissed
last month.
Shingara Mann Singh, 52, a French
national, lost a series of appeals in
France against the refusal by authori-
ties to issue a new driving licence with
a photograph of him wearing a turban,
before taking his case to the Stras-
bourg-based court.
In the third case, pensioner Ranjit
Singh was unable to access health care
since 2002 because French authorities
would not renew his residence card
unless he removed his turban for a
photograph, United Sikhs said.
Mejindarpal Kaur, legal director
of the group, said the cases were
being brought to the UN committee
under the terms of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
to which France is a signatory.
She said the appeal to the commit-
tee was not about the three men in
question but about “25 million Sikhs’
right to wear a turban.”
Kaur said it was unclear how long
it might take for the committee to
decide whether to discuss the cases
or to reach a conclusion.
A spokesman for the French mis-
sion to the United Nations said he had
no comment on the issue. – Reuters

NEW YORK: Investors around the world former chairman

are counting the spiralling cost of the biggest
fraud in history, a US$50billion (RM180
billion) scam that has ensnared billionaire
businessmen and tiny charities alike and
whose tentacles have stretched further and
deeper than anyone imagined.
The man who Investors around the world are
calculating how much they might

was a $50 billion Ponzi scheme by

Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff
of the Nasdaq stock
exchange.
His arrest has
further shaken
have lost in what prosecutors allege confidence in the
barely regulated
hedge fund

conned the world

The fall-out from the arrest of the
Wall Street grandee Bernard Madoff was to defraud investors industry, which is
continuing to grow last night, as institution already suffering
after institution detailed the extent of their some of the worst
possible losses, and the victims in the UK times in its short
were headlined by HSBC and the Royal Bank history. Madoff
of Scotland (RBS), which is majority-owned – who is now on
by the British Government. a US$10 million
A charity set up by Hollywood director and from banks around the world. They US$1 billion (RM3.6 (RM36 million)
Steven Spielberg was among those also now have poured billions of dollars into Madoff’s billion) in Madoff’s bail and under
revealed among the victims, along with a too-good-to-be-true investment fund, which funds. orders not to leave
foundation set up by Mort Zuckerman, one appeared to post double-digit annual returns The Spanish bank the New York
of the richest media and real estate magnates come rain or shine. Santander, which owns area – was able to
in the United States, dozens of Jewish RBS said that it could take a hit of £400m Abbey and the savings operate his fraud
organisations, sports team owners and a New (RM2.1 billion) if American authorities find business of Bradford Bernard L. Madoff (left), Charles under the noses of
Jersey senator. there is nothing left of the money Madoff had & Bingley in the UK, Ponzi (right). In 1920s Ponzi devised regulators for many
But the biggest confessions were coming pretended to be investing for many years. could be on the hook for scam offering abnormally high profits years.
from Wall Street, from the City of London and HSBC, Britain’s largest bank, said a small US$3.1 billion (RM11.2 to investors out of money paid in by Mort
from the headquarters of European banks number of its clients had exposure totalling billion). Zuckerman, the
Japan’s Nomura
subsequent investors owner of the New
said it has hundreds of Estimated exposure York Daily News
millions of dollars at risk. Santander $3.1 billion and one of the 200
City analysts said that richest Americans,
even banks who invested HSBC $1.0 billion said that one of
only on behalf of clients Union Bancaire Privée $1.0 billion the managers of
could end up on the his charitable trust
hook, because clients are Natixis $605 million had been so taken
almost certain to sue for Royal Bank of Scotland $595 million by Madoff that
bad advice. he invested US$9
Madoff confessed last BNP Paribas $467 million billion (RM32.4
week that his business Reichmuth $325 million billion) with him,
was “all one great big including all
lie”. The investment Nomura Holdings $302 million the money from
returns were fake, and Banque Bénédict Hentsch $47 million Zuckermanis trust.
he had been paying “These are
old clients with money
Bramdean Alternatives $30 million astonishing
from new ones. In its Pictures: Associated Press, numbers to be
Boston Public Library © GRAPHIC NEWS placed with one
conception, the scam is
a classic. In its size, it fund manager,”
is breathtaking, eclipsing he said. “I think
anything seen before. He personally we have another break in whatever
estimated the losses at US$50 billion, level confidence needs to exist in money
according to the FBI, and as investors markets.”
owned up to their exposure on Monday that Nicola Horlick, the British fund manager
did not seem impossible. known as Superwoman for juggling her
For 48 years, until Thursday morning, high-flying City career with bringing up five
Madoff was one of Wall Street’s best- children, turned her fire on US regulators.
respected investment managers, able to Her Bramdean Alternatives investment
harvest money from a vast network of fund had put 9% – about £10 million (RM36
contacts and to trade on his name as a million) – with Madoff. – The Independent

AP reporters, photographers stage

‘byline strike’ over contract talks
WASHINGTON: Journalists and photographers at
the US news agency the Associated Press (AP)
are withholding their bylines to protest manage-
ment’s stance in contract talks, their union said
on Monday.
“Staffers recognize the tough times, but they
also understand that quality journalism at AP
means attracting and retaining the best employ-
ees,” Tony Winton, president of the News Media
Guild, said in a statement.
The Guild said AP reporters and photogra-
phers were withholding bylines and personal
equipment “in protest over the news agency’s
proposals that would threaten job security,
dramatically raise medical costs, and freeze
wages.”
The Guild, which represents 1,400 editorial,
technology and support workers at AP, has been
bargaining with management since Oct 21 on a
new contract to replace the one that expired on
Nov 30. Besides withholding bylines from stories
and photographs, the Guild said some employ-
ees “planned to withhold use of their personal
vehicles, cellphones, and other equipment, while
others were ‘working to rule.’”
The Guild said the protest began on Sunday
and is “set to end later this week.”
AP president and chief executive Tom Curley
said last month that the New York-based AP, a
cooperative owned by 1,500 daily US newspa-
pers, plans to reduce its staff by 10% over the
next year, mostly through attrition.
The move, which would amount to more than
400 jobs, was necessary because of a reduction
in fees paid by member newspapers, many of
which are facing financial difficulties, and the
declining economy, Curley said.
AP is one of the world’s three major news
agencies, along with Agence France-Presse and
Reuters. – AFP