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A SPECIAL envoy and a team of legal experts are set to visit Romania next month to help their counterparts speed up investigations into the hit-and-run case involving Dr Silviu Ionescu.
Singapore's ambassador in Brussels, Mr Anil Kumar Nayar, wants to visit the country with officials from the Attorney-General Chambers 'to provide the Romanian authorities with any assistance they may require to faciliate and expedite their preparations to visit Singapore'.
The announcement came in a statement from the Ministryof Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Thursday afternoon.
Romania had agreed to send two officials here to set up a working group to review the evidence against Dr Ionescu, who allegedly hit three pedestrians along Bukit Panjang Road on Dec 15. But three weeks have passed since the Romanian ambassdor Aurelian Neagu told the MFA his country's officials were ready to fly here 'anytime'. Mr Neagu was in Singapore on Thursday morning to clarify comments made by his ministry last Friday that Dr Ionescu continue to enjoy diplomatic immunity.
When he met the MFA, he explained that Romania could not determine if Dr Ionescu had immunity until investigations by the Romanian authorities revealed if he had been acting in his official capacity. Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a diplomat retains only immunity for his official acts after he leaves his posting in the host country.
The MFA spokesman said: 'Ambassador Neagu gave the assurance that if the investigations determined that Dr Ionescu was acting in a private capacity at the material time of the accident, the Romanian authorities would take 'full legal action' against Dr Ionescu.'
Singapore's ambassador in Brussels, Mr Anil Kumar Nayar, wants to visit the country with officials from the Attorney-General Chambers 'to provide the Romanian authorities with any assistance they may require to faciliate and expedite their preparations to visit Singapore'.
The announcement came in a statement from the Ministryof Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Thursday afternoon.
Romania had agreed to send two officials here to set up a working group to review the evidence against Dr Ionescu, who allegedly hit three pedestrians along Bukit Panjang Road on Dec 15. But three weeks have passed since the Romanian ambassdor Aurelian Neagu told the MFA his country's officials were ready to fly here 'anytime'. Mr Neagu was in Singapore on Thursday morning to clarify comments made by his ministry last Friday that Dr Ionescu continue to enjoy diplomatic immunity.
When he met the MFA, he explained that Romania could not determine if Dr Ionescu had immunity until investigations by the Romanian authorities revealed if he had been acting in his official capacity. Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a diplomat retains only immunity for his official acts after he leaves his posting in the host country.
The MFA spokesman said: 'Ambassador Neagu gave the assurance that if the investigations determined that Dr Ionescu was acting in a private capacity at the material time of the accident, the Romanian authorities would take 'full legal action' against Dr Ionescu.'
