In a few weeks, Thai diplomats and officials will be hard pressed to explain the kind of progress, if any, the country has made in addressing the issue of human trafficking.  A United States government report, on the Trafficking In Persons (TIP), could potentially affect bilateral relations between Thailand and the US and will be released next month.

US law requires that its State Department rate nations across the world with regard to human trafficking. Countries rated in tier one fully meet minimum standards while tier two nations do not meet the minimum standards but are making an effort.

Tier three countries, on the other hand, do not meet the standards and are not showing any signs of trying to make a meaningful effort. What concerns many Thai officials is that tier three countries, which could very well include Thailand, face the threat of sanctions by the US government.

At the discretion of the US president, Thailand has received a waiver from such punishment and allowed to remain in tier two for past two years. But time is up and Thailand is hard pressed to show that progress has been made.  Judging from the previous report, in which Thailand was accused of slow progress in prosecuting trafficking-related cases, there is a real chance that the country could be rated down.

A few days ago, a US Congressional panel reminded us how bad Thailand’s performance and image is with respect to poor treatment of the Rohingya. The hearing in Washington DC was on “Effective Accountability: Tier Rankings in the Fight against Human Trafficking Lessons”.

Representative Chris Smith, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organisa-tions, listened to testimonies about how Thai government officials were involved in the trafficking of Rohingya.  Smith is not just another lawmaker. He is the author of the landmark law, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, that created this three-tier system of reward and punishment for countries that do not comply with the requirements.

Malash Kulkarni writes:  In a court order on April 18, 2013, iron ore mines in the state of Karnataka south of Mumbai were classified in three categories. “C” signified large scale violations of the mining rules.  Fifty-one mines in this category had their leases cancelled and are up for sale to end-users.  End-users have the capacity to make use of the ore by breaking it through chemical reduction processes to final products which include pig iron, sponge iron and steel, but exclude pellets and the extraction of minerals and gangue.

The auction of mines is likely to benefit ‘end-users’ like JSW Steel, Kalyani Steel and BMM Ispat, which do not have captive iron ore mines and depend on e-auction of iron ore for their raw material requirements. As new mining leases are unlikely to be given out in the state in the near future, auction of mines could give steel mills a big opportunity to acquire the natural resource.

The New York State Financial Services chief understands that even fines that seem humungous to the ordinary citizen are for financial institutions just “the cost of doing business.”  Unless some of these financial officers go to jail, business is going to continue as usual.   But Lawsky has his eyes wide open.

• At the center of New York Department of Financial Services chief Ben Lawsky’s concerns are Ocwen’s relationship with Altisource Portfolio Solutions and its home-auction website subsidiary Hubzu.
• “Hubzu appears to be charging auction fees on Ocwen-serviced properties that are up to three times the fees charged to non-Ocwen customers,” writes Lawsky’s office. In other words, when Ocwen chooses Hubzu to market a property, the fee is 4.5%, but when Hubzu competes for business in the open market, it’s 1.5%.
• “The relationship between Ocwen, Altisource Portfolio, and Hubzu raises significant concerns regarding self-dealing. In particular, it creates questions about whether those companies are charging inflated fees through conflicted business relationships, and thereby negatively impacting homeowners and mortgage investors.
• Speaking Thursday on the Home Loan Servicing Solutions earnings call, Ocwen boss Bill Erbey says Lawsky’s hold on the purchase of $2.7B in MSRs from Wells Fargo has put a freeze on all MSR deals in the market.