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| 07.01.200811:23 (GMT) | The Security Police of Latvia has announced revealing of a criminal network consisting mostly from the state agencies’ officials who were engaged in selling Latvian passports, news agencies are reporting today. At present there are 19 employees of Department of Citizenship and Immigration of Latvia under suspicion, according to the press release of the Ministry of Interior of Latvia.
According to news agency LETA, these passports could have been obtained by more than 100 persons, including citizens of the CIS countries; among them are citizens of Russia who then bought real estate in Jurmala sea-resort. "Passports were sold basically to Russians and citizens of Belarus and Ukraine", news agency cites the ministry’s press-release. During investigation, carried out by the Security Police, it is established that documents have been given out to the persons who had no right to obtain them; the criminal network operated in 2004-2005, it says. Data of owners of the sold passports were entered into all registers and electronic systems of the Latvian state; as a result the owner of the passport became a full citizen of the European Union.
TV channel LNT reported that, according to un official information, a valid passport of the country belonging to the Schengen zone, may cost in the black market from EUR 40,000 up to 100,000. Thus this case may appear the largest case of bribery in the history of the independent Republic of Latvia. The list of persons received the illegally obtained passports is not disclosed yet, however all these people are known to law enforcement bodies, online paper Delfi reports.
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