Swiss replaces Pakistan embassy staff over visa scam

ZURICH, May 19 (Reuters) The Swiss foreign ministry will replace all its 29 embassy and consulate staff in Pakistan following accusations that employees were involved in a human trafficking racket.

Switzerland shut the visa section at its Islamabad embassy earlier this month after Pakistan launched an investigation into embassy employees accused of illegally issuing Swiss visas to Pakistanis. Pakistan's investigation has led to some arrests.

A foreign ministry spokesman in Berne said today that eight of the staff being replaced were Swiss -- six at the embassy in Islamabad and two at the consulate in Karachi -- while the rest were local employees.

A Swiss investigation found no evidence that Swiss staff had been involved in suspected human trafficking but did find that a lack of clearly defined responsibilities within the visa section meant there was an increased risk of employees issuing visas improperly.

''This made it easy for some applicants to obtain visas under false pretences,'' the foreign office said in a statement.

''This measure does not constitute an imputation of guilt but is meant to enable a complete rebuilding of the visa section.'' The embassy's visa section would remain closed for now and the foreign ministry would open three disciplinary probes.

Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey earlier this month said there was little doubt Switzerland's embassy in Islamabad had been ''targeted by criminal networks engaged in human trafficking''.

Pakistani authorities earlier this month announced that Asher Francis, a Swiss embassy employee, was under arrest while Interpol had issued arrest warrants against a commercial attache, Major Mohammad Ajmal, after he fled Pakistan. Both are Pakistani nationals.

A senior Pakistani official involved in the investigation said today that five travel agents have also been arrested.

''And we are pursuing four or five more arrests in this case,'' Additional Director General of Pakistan's Federal Investigating Agency, Tariq Khosa, told Reuters.

A Pakistani newspaper, The News, exposed the trafficking ring, by running a series of articles over the past few months on the conduct of officials at the Swiss visa section in Islamabad.

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