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Arrest warrant issued, Interpol on red alert against Silviu Ionescu - By Saifulbahri Ismail
Posted: 09 April 2010 1708 hrs
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Arrest warrant issued, Interpol on red alert against Silviu Ionescu
SINGAPORE: The Singapore government has issued a Warrant of Arrest against Dr Silviu Ionescu over a deadly hit-and-run accident, while Interpol issued a Red Notice against the former Romanian charge d'affaires. Last month, the Coroner's Inquiry held in Singapore ruled that Dr Ionescu was the driver of the car that hit three pedestrians on December 15 last year. One person died. Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Friday met Mr Aurelian Neagu, the Romanian Ambassador to Singapore, who is based in Tokyo. MFA said Mr Neagu was officially informed of the findings of the Coroner's Inquiry and the charges preferred by the Singapore Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) against Dr Silviu Ionescu. He was also officially informed that a Warrant of Arrest had been issued against Dr Ionescu and that Interpol had issued a Red Notice against him. A Red Notice means the warrant can be circulated in member countries, with the request that the wanted person be arrested with a view to extradition. Singapore's Foreign Ministry told Mr Neagu that Singapore understood Romania cannot compel Dr Ionescu to return to the Republic as there was no Extradition Treaty between the two countries. Still, the ministry stressed that the Romanian government had a clear moral obligation to persuade Dr Ionescu to come back to Singapore to stand trial. It said this was in Romania's own interests as Dr Ionescu had seriously damaged Romania's international reputation. Mr Neagu informed MFA that the Romanian Prosecutor's Office had started criminal investigations against Dr Ionescu on February 2 on "homicide by negligence, leaving the scene of an accident and false statements". These are similar to the charges which the ACG had prepared against Dr Ionescu. Ambassador Neagu stressed that Romania was committed to seeing justice done. The Ambassador explained that Romania would need to conduct its own investigations against Dr Ionescu in accordance with Romanian law. He assured MFA that Romania would continue to cooperate fully with Singapore on the matter, and abide by the law and international procedures in dealing with this case. MFA thanked Mr Neagu for his assurances of Romania's commitment, and reiterated that Singapore would cooperate with Romania to the fullest extent possible under Singapore's law to see that justice is served. Singapore told Mr Neagu that it has agreed to Romania's request to set up a Joint Commission, which will comprise legal experts from both sides, who will share evidence. They could start work by May. The Singapore Foreign Ministry cautioned Mr Neagu that Romania should not underestimate the depth of feelings that had been aroused in Singapore over the case. It continued to say that the Romanian government must, in its own interests, ensure justice is served. Otherwise, there would inevitably be consequences for bilateral relations. - CNA/yb
Full MFA statement here .
The Wise Old Owl comments:
I am certain my fellow Singaporeans would not have been surprised at all by the findings of the Official Inquiry in open court...with the mountain of solid evidence uncovered that Silviu Ionescu was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, to be the"hit and run" driver of the Romanian Embassy car that killed a man and seriously injuring others last December.
I am also not surprised that he has "run away" and have no moral courage to return to face the music and the LAW.
Neither am I surprised that he has been proven to be an outright, blatant LIAR in his statements to the Police and to the media.
But what I am most surprised and very angry about is his rather bizarre attitude displayed in the aftermath of those serious crimes he has committed. He showed no remorse when interviewed after the findings were released.
He added insult to injury by asking ," what's the so big a deal? Only one dead person".
Then to top it all, he went headlong into an ATTACK mode.....attacking the credibility of our Police investigators, our highly respected judiciary system, our courts, our MFA and finally....Singapore itself!
This I cannot take.
This we must not take, not only from such a despicable monster ( is he a diplomat? Diplomats are supposed to be highly respectable, top calibre people right? And I personally know quite a few very well.).
As a Singaporean, I support and commend our Singapore Government highly for this latest move. The Romanians may love to play political chess as did certain other countries in their past dealings with Singapore. But for Singapore we have no time nor the inclination for such games.
International credibility, Justice and Fairplay, bi-lateral Relations and above everything else, the respect for LAW and ORDER is what we value most....not games!
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