Singapore has issued an arrest warrant for Silviu Ionescu, the former Romanian charge d'affaires, over a hit-and-run incident that left one man dead at the end of last year.
Ionescu, who has been suspended from his duties by the Romanian foreign ministry, fled Singapore after the incident and is now back in Romania, which does not have an extradition treaty with Singapore.
In a strongly-worded statement (at least in diplomatic terms), Singapore's foreign ministry said the Romanian government had "a clear moral obligation to do all it could to persuade Dr Ionescu to come back to Singapore to stand trial".
The Singapore foreign ministry has lodged a "strong protest" over comments made by Ionescu about the integrity of the Singapore legal system and said the Romanian government had a "strong obligation to ensure that Dr Ionescu refrained from making outrageous and inappropriate statements," which "damaged Romania's reputation".
The statement ends with a terse warning of "consequences for bilateral relations" if the Romanian government does not do its utmost to ensure that Ionescu faces justice.
MFA cautioned Ambassador Neagu that Romania should not underestimate the depth of feelings that had been aroused in Singapore over the case. Questions had been asked in Parliament. The Romanian Government must in its own interests ensure that justice was served and seen to be served. Otherwise, there would inevitably be consequences for bilateral relations.
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Georgie Yeo should walk the talk, convince the 'Dear Leader' to dispatch an extraction team to bring lonescu back for trial. It will be great if the opportunity is given to PAP rising star Teo Ser Luck to lead such a team, which of course will comprise the best from ISD.
ReplyDeleteIt is high time the Spore govt delegate this task to ISD personnel and prove once and for all to Sporeans the ISD can do better than just going after political opponents.