REFUGEE RACKET UNCOVERED

Chronicle (Levin), 27 February 1947, Page 8

REFUGEE RACKET UNCOVERED

FEDERAL POLICE PROBE A Commonwealuh probe has revealed the existence of two organisations in Sydney — one Communist-eontrolled, the other dominated by White Russians- — which are sponsoring refugee entry into Australia, says the Sydney Sun. Money is no object particularly to some refugees entering the country from the Far East. Commonwealth agents discovered that one man had more thaih £40,000 in his possession. Other refugees have credits amounting to thousands in London and New • York banks. % The Commonwealth is ' now investigating the real purpose of some recent refugee arrivals in Australia. A senior official said that the inquiries were directly related to disclosures at the Cafiadian spy ring trials. Customs and other investigators have found that most of the refugees from Shanghai have large sums of money. Credentials of some who were not interned by the Japanese during the war are belng Closely checked. * Fellow-country-men in Singapore were interned by the Japs. Arrivals who have styled themselves "White Russians" have also come under suspicion. Official inquiries into the two rival organisations in Sydney reveal that one is sponsoring "White Russians" and that the other has the backing of the Communist Party. An attempt to discover how the refugees made large sums in the East is also being made. Any priee will be paid for admission to the rcountry. A member of Parliament was offered £100 a head for each successful sponsorship. He had 'only to sign Ietters asking for . landing permits for the aliens. Contrary to popular belief, investigators say that refugees from Europe are mbstly short of funds. They are guaranteed accommodation and care by their spcnsors. It is understood that no Commonwealth record is kept of transactions by aliens in' Australia, or 'the amount of land, property, or businesses they acquire. ^ Immigration authorities refuse to*' disclose the number of aliens who have arrived in Australia, and auestions during the last session of Parliament failed to elicit this information. xA return by the Commonwealth Statistician reveals that in the first nine months of 1946— the latest period for which the department has figures — 27S4 aliens were lisi sd as p,ermanent new arrivals. Of these, 930 are from the U.S.A. presumably, mostly ex-servicemen who cannot be classed as refugees. Five hundred and twenty new arrivals are listed as originating from China, but of these only 106 ■ are Chinese. Apparently most of the remainder are people of European crigin from Shanghai or elrewhere in China, who have land,ing permits for Australia." The Immigration Minister • (Mr. (Calwell) stated that there were only 200 more people in Shanghai with permits to enter Australia. "No decision will be made for some time on the issue of landing permits to any more Europeans in China and the Far East," he declared.