New Allegations Against Foreign Ministry

New allegations surfaced on Friday against the beleaguered German foreign ministry which is engulfed in an illegal immigration scandal. German daily Die Welt reported that the foreign ministry had forbidden German embassies to directly cooperate with security authorities in the fight against visa abuse. Citing an internal memo from the ministry, the paper wrote that the embassies had also been instructed not to maintain lists with the names of dubious persons suspected of acquiring visas on false pretences. According to the report, the German embassy in Moscow had complained in vain that such instructions from the foreign ministry were hampering the fight against human trafficking. The foreign ministry on Friday rejected the new accusations. The German foreign ministery, led by popular Minister Joschka Fischer, stands accused of turning a blind eye to massive visa abuse between 2000 and 2002, which resulted in an unusually high flood of foreign nationals, particularly Ukrainians, entering Germany. In recent weeks, anecdotal evidence of human traffickers and prostitutes who benefited from the lax rules has dominated the German media and put pressure on Fischer for his role in the affair.