Czech Television: Govt suspends visa issuing for Vietnamese

Prague, Nov 16 (CTK) - The Czech cabinet has decided that the embassy in
Hanoi will stop issuing visa for the Vietnamese going to the Czech
Republic, in reaction to the rise in organised crime in the Vietnamese
community and to alleged underworld practices accompanying the visa
procedure, Czech Television reported Sunday.

The visa issuing will remain suspended until the end of the year.

The Czech-Vietnamese Society and the Czech political opposition have
protested against the measure.

An analysis the ministries of interior and foreign affairs have worked out
for the government points to counterfeiting designer goods, tax evasion and
large scale growing of marijuana in the local Vietnamese community.

In reaction to it, the government on the proposal of Interior Minister Ivan
Langer decided in a secret procedure to temporarily suspend the issuing of
visa for Vietnamese.

Langer told CTK that concrete measures must be taken "for us to be able to
protect the Czech Republic from criminal activities."

The Czech-Vietnamese Society has protested saying that only a small
fraction of the local Vietnamese community is involved in organised crime.

"This is international shame and unfortunately also a step proving that all
of our state leaders who in the past and recently visited Vietnam and
asserted they were interested in cooperation and friendship, were knowingly
telling lies," Society chairman Marcel Winter told Czech Television.

The government's resolution authorises the ministers of interior and
foreign affairs to stop the visa issuing any time in the future if the
problems persisted.

The government also plans other measures. A foreign police officer is to go
to work at the Czech embassy in Hanoi, Czech Television said.