U.S. imposes Visa ban on Romanians convicted for corruption
By Bloomberg
The U.S. has imposed a visa and travel ban on current and former Romanian government officials suspected of corruption, said Hoyt Yee, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs.
Other officials from Bulgaria and Hungary have also been denied U.S. access, Yee said during a Congress hearing at the Committee on Foreign Affairs in Washington. Romania ranked 69th of 175 states in Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perception Index, the worst in the European Union, along with Greece and Bulgaria.
“There are government officials, or former government officials, from Romania who are not allowed to travel to the U.S. because of suspicions of corruption,” Yee said.
The U.S. embassy in Bucharest confirmed the Visa Department had found some Romanians “ineligible for a visa as the result of convictions from criminal activity, including engaging in or benefiting from corruption,” according to an e-mailed statement on Thursday.
Romania has sped up its fight against corruption in the past year, with former ministers, politicians and business men probed and sent to Court. Former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, who was jailed for about two years after being convicted for corruption, is among the officials who lost their U.S. visa privileges, according to news website Hotnews. ro.
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