A World Bank economist living in Falls Church has agreed to pay $41,000 in restitution to her Tanzanian domestic servant after failing to pay the servant prevailing wages for more than eight months, the economist admitted.
Anne Bakilana made the agreement with federal prosecutors in Alexandria after pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators about telling the servant she would be deported if she tried to quit. Bakilana faces up to six months behind bars when she’s sentenced Friday on making fictitious and fraudulent statement charges. The servant was granted a temporary visa in February because she is a “victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.
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“The World Bank does not comment on law enforcement issues in our member countries,” a World Bank spokesman said. “However, if a staff member is convicted of a felony, our staff rules call for their mandatory termination.” The spokesman would not comment further on Bakilana’s employment status. She pleaded guilty to a felony charge.
Bakilana’s attorney declined to comment.
The FBI began an investigation into Bakilana and her relationship with her servant, “S.K.,” in July after receiving a tip on a possible “human trafficking situation,” court documents said. The FBI recorded conversations between Bakilana and S.K., and determined Bakilana was withholding S.K.’s passport.
When Bakilana was confronted by investigators in August, she lied to the FBI agents about having threatened S.K. with deportation if S.K. were to quit, Bakilana admitted.
Bakilana contends she did not restrict S.K.’s movements. In court documents, Bakilana said she paid for S.K.’s education, gave her a Metro card and allowed her to come and go as she pleased.
S.K., in a letter to U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, said Bakilana’s claims of fairness are not true. S.K. said she never had a day off and slept on the floor in a room with Bakilana’s two children. She said Bakilana threatened to take away S.K.’s visa when she asked for her passport.
“I am a human being just like her, but she treated me like a slave who didn’t need to rest, sleep, eat or breathe,” S.K. wrote. “This wasn’t a game. This was my life.”
