Italian diplomats form nexus with travel agents

Intelligence gathered by the agencies from the Italian embassy has revealed that few blue-eyed travel agents of the federal capital and Punjab province were being granted visas for the European countries which has broken all the records of visa issuance from the country, Pakistan Today has learnt. In October 2012 only, around 600 visas European countries have issued against 700 applications
However, when contacted a senior official at the Italian Embassy at Islamabad, he rejected the allegations saying that the embassy was not working with the private travel agents. The revelation is the continuity of the country’s law enforcement agencies who are keeping a vigil on the activities of diplomats particularly the Italian ones.
Recently, the agencies had pointed out the alleged involvement of Italian diplomats in human trafficking and forwarded a detailed report to the senior authorities for further action.
According to details, the head of commercial section in Italian Embassy and the deputy head in the same section are allegedly involved in such illegal activities. The said officials are working in commercial section of the Italian embassy in Islamabad, however, they have the authority to process all the business visa applications in addition.
Moreover, the head of the same section had been appointed as the acting head of the visa section on several occasions when he actually issued hundreds of visas abusing his powers. The Italian agency has also reportedly taken up this matter at their end and investigating the matter seriously.
On the other side, the law enforcement agencies in Pakistan have compiled a complete report on this issue and submitted it for perusal of the higher authorities, insiders told this scribe.
In the said report, the LEAs had also raised previous findings regarding another Italian diplomat Fabrizio Vignanelli serving as the head of the visa section, who was actually appointed in the Consular Section. However, the mission changed his cadre internally violating the Pakistani visa rules and appointed him as the head of the visa section despite the fact that security clearance for the said diplomat has been given to serve in the consular section, the sources added. Vignanelli also reportedly came under investigation over some rigorous allegations during his previous posting in Karachi. It is also learnt that several lawmakers have recorded their reservations once again within the parliamentary forums and raised their serious apprehensions after the shocking revelations against the said Italian diplomats, the sources added.
The matter pertaining to Fabrizio Vignanelli has already been discussed in the Parliament and debated in the defense committee meetings few months back. However, once again the Italian diplomats are reportedly involved in illegal activities as the agencies were closely monitoring the alleged diplomats and a final report has been submitted to the high-ups in this matter.
After the matter was reported in the national media, the Italian embassy transferred the diplomat from Pakistan and a new diplomat namely Ubaldo Ciaviglioli was appointed, they said.