ArmenPress
Feb 4 2005

US CONSULAR ASSOCIATE IN ARMENIA INDICTED ON BRIBERY AND VISA FRAUD
CHARGES
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS: The U.S. Embassy in Armenia
forwarded to Armenpress a statement issued jointly by the Justice
Department and State Department of the United States of America in
Washington, DC, February 3, which says that the United States
Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein and Ambassador Frank Taylor, Assistant
Secretary for the United States Department of State’s Bureau of
Diplomatic Security, announced that a federal Grand Jury in the
District of Columbia returned on February 2 a thirteen-count
indictment charging Piotr Zdzislaw Parlej, a 45-year-old United
States citizen formerly employed as a Consular Associate in the
United States Embassy in Yerevan, Armenia, with bribery and visa
fraud.
Parlej was arrested in the District of Columbia yesterday
afternoon and is scheduled to appear today before United States
Magistrate Judge Alan Kay. If convicted of the charges, Parlej faces
up to between 5 and 15 years in prison, and a fine of not more than
$250,000 on each of the counts.
The indictment charges that from in or before April 2004, through
on or about January 13, 2005, in Yerevan, Armenia, Parlej and various
co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to commit bribery and visa
fraud, and to obstruct and impede – “by craft, trickery, deceit, and
dishonest means” – the United States Department of State in “its
lawful function of reviewing and controlling the issuance to
qualified foreign nationals of visas authorizing their entry into the
United States.” The indictment Page -2- also alleges six specific
instances in which Parlej took cash bribes of up to $10,000 each, in
exchange for issuing visas irrespective of whether the applicants
were qualified to receive them.
“The people of the United States have a right to have immigration
rules applied fairly and properly,” noted United States Attorney
Wainstein. “A United States consular official who violates those
rules for personal financial gain undermines the integrity of our
visa application and review process, and erodes public trust in our
consular officials around the world.”
Speaking for the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security,
Ambassador Taylor added, “We are committed to investigating and
bringing to justice Department of State employees who use their
positions of trust to break the law.”
In announcing Parlej’s indictment and arrest, United States
Attorney Wainstein and Ambassador Taylor particularly commended the
work of Diplomatic Security Service Special Agents, U.S. Embassy
Yerevan staff, as well as Armenia law enforcement authorities who
assisted in the case. United States Attorney Wainstein and Ambassador
Taylor also commended Assistant United States Attorneys Laura A.
Ingersoll and Brenda J. Johnson, who are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has
committed a violation of criminal laws. Every defendant is presumed
innocent until and unless found guilty.
The statement said the U.S. Embassy in Armenia and the U.S. State
Department as a whole, are dedicated to insuring the integrity of
visa process, and maintain zero tolerance of fraud. It also thanked
the Armenian authorities for their cooperation in this investigation
and in particular commended the National Security Service of Armenia
for their invaluable assistance.