BERLIN: Several employees at the German embassies in Cairo and Moscow have been fired after authorities discovered that possibly hundreds of visas were issued to people based on forged documents, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
The ministry discovered the cases during a regular inspection of embassy operations, a spokesman said on condition of anonymity, confirming a report released by weekly Der Spiegel before its planned publication Sunday.
Der Spiegel said the ministry had sent experts and police agents to both embassies, and that they were reviewing up to 50,000 past visa applications.
Out of 10,000 applications reassessed in Cairo so far, 132 involved forged documents, the ministry said.
Six Egyptian employees of the Cairo embassy are suspected of having presented forged documents to the visa department to secure entry permits for applicants wanting to travel to Germany, the magazine reported.
At the German Embassy in Moscow, an employee helped 1,259 applicants get visas for Germany with forged documents, Spiegel reported, adding that police have already tracked down 153 applicants who were granted those visas.
One employee in Moscow and several employees in Cairo were fired, the ministry spokesman confirmed Saturday.
It was unclear whether the employees collected extra fees for their illegal services or if they were providing the entry permit for acquaintances.
In 2005, Germany was shaken by a visa scandal when it became public that German diplomats in Eastern Europe, notably in Ukraine, gave many visas without background checks under a 2,000 policy directive from the Foreign Ministry. Critics claimed the lax visa politics encouraged an influx of criminals and women who were forced into prostitution. -AP
