A new scandal surfaced at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE): the head of the consular section of the Romanian Embassy in Turkey has been urgently recalled for disciplinary and professional misconduct. In his turn, the Consul has sent a complaint to the Premier, tvr.ro informs.
Cristian Radu has spent five months in Ankara. In the scandal are involved the head of the Control Body and the Director of the Consular Directorate with the Foreign Ministry. According to information in the media, the Consul complains that at the Embassy in Turkey there are intermediaries for granting the visas.
A recording with the protagonists of the scandal has surfaced in the media. They talk, among others, about the logic of remaining in the system.
MAE is conducting an inquiry and says it cannot prejudge. It says, however, that will transparently communicate the measures taken.
MAE said on Wednesday that there were no complaints from those who have applied for visas at the consular section of the Romanian Embassy in Ankara and the control team sent there found no problems in this respect.
“There were no complaints from visa applicants and the control team sent by the Foreign Ministry in Ankara has not found any problems in this respect. Moreover, the legal provisions on visas specifically require the applicants’ personal presence before submitting the applications to Romanian diplomatic missions and consular offices, except as expressly and exhaustively provided by law. Also, the consular fees related to the issuance of visas are set by law, the applicable provisions are strictly observed by all Romanian consulates,” the MAE release reads.
Until now, the consul refused explicitly, including messages transmitted in public space, to hand over the consular work, intended to ensure the continuity of the consular service for citizens.
Given the repeated refusal of the Consul to perform the compulsory operation of handover and the need for the mission to continue providing consular services without disrupting the normal activities, the work on the consular line of person in question was concluded, as part of the process the closing of the mission, hotnews.ro informs.
Another Foreign Ministry employee was appointed to take over consular duties in Ankara.
MAE states that Cristian Radu had been recalled in 2014 from the Romanian Consulate in Munich also for misconduct. In this case, Consul Radu had opened a lawsuit against MAE, but then withdrew the complaint.
The Ministry does not explain why the same person was sent, a few months later, to represent Romania in Ankara.