© ReutersMichaela Rehle
The corrupt schemes "have been run smoothly [by employees] in the visa centers of many German diplomatic missions abroad," and the Middle East in particular, German Der Spiegel weekly reported, calling the consulates an "Achilles heel" in the fight against people smuggling. The paper also calls the local employees a "weak spot" of German visa departments, as it is they who usually work with people smugglers.
A German consulate in Iraq's northern city of Erbil was particularly involved in one such fraudulent scheme, according to the paper's investigation. Local human traffickers offered to get their clients visas through corrupt consulate officials without the need for an approval by the visa and registration department in Germany. A false document, which could allow a would-be asylum seeker to legally enter Germany as part of a refugee reception program, cost between $3,000 and $13,000.
The shady scheme reportedly ran smoothly between August and December 2017 until finally came to the attention of Foreign Ministry officials. The forgers managed to sell some two dozen visas over this period, Der Spiegel says, adding that the real number of such cases might be much greater.
Comment: Aiming to wake up his people or advocating for his own less reverent comfort zone? Perhaps a bit of both in a non-conforming, semi-pragmatic, in-your-face sort of way.