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"We have found roughly 1,500 cases of abuse regarding visa applications in
the last two years," foreign ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said,
confirming press reports.
"In Moscow there were 1,259 cases, in Chisinau 70 cases, in Shanghai 30 and
in Cairo investigations are still ongoing but we have so far identified 132
cases," he added.
Jaeger said the ministry had taken disciplinary steps against staff members
implicated in the visa fraud, adding that everywhere except in Moldova
, these were locals employed by the missions and not members of the German
diplomatic corps.
"In all cases criminal, disciplinary and labour steps have been taken," he
said.
The German press on Monday drew parallels between the affair and a visa
scandal that shook the government of former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder two
years ago, but Jaeger denied that the latest cases pointed to serious
problems at German embassies around the world.
"I do not want to diminish these matters -- every case is one too many --
but we must accept that there will be cases like this and we make very great
efforts to limit such irregularities as far as possible."
Der Spiegel news magazine reported on Monday that the corruption at the
Russian embassy was discovered after police apprehended 153 people who
travelled to Germany from Russia using visas stamped into fake passports.
It said police officers and a diplomat who have been dispatched to the
German embassy in Cairo to investigate similar problems there had so far
checked 10,000 visa applications, uncovering fraud in 132 cases.
The team still had to revise some 40,000 applications and the ministry
feared that "there could be more such cases still," Der Spiegel quoted a
ministry official as saying.
It said six Egyptian staff members had been identified in the probe and that
the ministry found it worrying that this could happen "in a country where
there are so many Islamists."
In 2005, Berlin was hit by a major immigration scandal that dented the
reputation of the then foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, when it emerged
that relaxing the rules for issuing visas led to tens of thousands of
eastern Europeans pouring into Germany between 2000 and 2003.
The Christian Democrats, who were then in opposition but are now part of the
ruling coalition, charged that the revised visa system was left open to
exploitation by people smugglers who brought in women forced into
prostitution, drug dealers and workers seeking illegal employment.
to people holding fake identity documents Source: http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=mideast&item=071210133213.iqq1lreb.php
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