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Singapore's Foreign Ministry spokesman said it is clear from the findings of the Coroner's Inquiry that the acts for which Dr Silviu Ionescu has been charged were not pursuant to his official functions.

Dr Ionescu was using his embassy car in his private capacity and for his private purposes. As such, with effect from Dr Ionescu's recall, he no longer enjoys diplomatic immunity for the acts in question.

The spokesman added that as Dr Ionescu was recalled by his government on January 5 this year and is no longer serving as a diplomat in Singapore, his immunity for acts performed outside of his function as a diplomat would have lapsed, as provided for by Article 39.2 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

The spokesman also explained that as a result, there was no need for a waiver of diplomatic immunity by Romania and no need for Singapore to seek a waiver.

He also referred to the Romanian Ambassador to Singapore Aurelian Neagu's comments to Singapore's Foreign Ministry during a meeting on February 11 that the events of December 15 last year were "the responsibility of Ionescu as a person and not a Romanian diplomat".

The Coroner had ruled that Dr Ionescu, Romania's former Charge d'Affaires, was the driver of the car that hit three pedestrians on December 15.

 Read » The wild babblings of a desperate man too cowardly to face up to his own responsibilities
machyam's picture
Published 2 years 5 weeks ago
Category: Politics | Tags: | Referrer: Freeseo

Romanian Ambassador Neagu,

Romanian Ambassador Neagu, who is based in Tokyo, was summoned to the city-state on Thursday to explain the immunity status of Dr Ionescu.

He was asked three times by Singapore if he or the Romanian government would consider attending the birthday party of a hostess in a karaoke lounge as being part of official diplomatic functions.

The ambassador failed to answer the question.

However, he said investigations are still ongoing in Romania and it is not possible to determine if Dr Ionescu's immunity had ceased.

However, he assured Singapore that his country would take full legal action if investigations showed Dr Ionescu was acting in a private capacity

Singapore told Mr Neagu it could not understand how Romania can come to any conclusion without officials visiting Singapore to review the evidence.

Singapore also reminded the ambassador that three weeks had passed since their last meeting on April 9, during which Mr Neagu assured that the Romanian prosecutor was ready to visit Singapore "at any time".

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