dissemination agreement City of Detroit Treasurer closed in the privacy of a strip club in motor city. “You basically pay everybody, so you have to pay me too,” the treasurer told the businessman. Robert Shumake In 2007 speech, the latter later declared to US officials. Shumake eventually put the treasurer, one of the local officials in charge, on his payroll. municipal pension fund to those who pay a day Bahamas trip Expenses incurred including airfare and placing bets at the casino during the trip. In turn, Shumake had the fund invest millions of dollars in one of its real estate deals. personal commission 1.2 million dollars. Prosecutors later claimed “the worst possible outcome for the pension system”.
The swap was a disaster for the city. The pension fund on which thousands of firefighters and policemen’s pensions depend has lost millions of dollars in various failed investments and a barrage of commissions. A few involved bribery scheme they went to jail, but Shumake was not among them. Not only did he manage to get away with cooperating with the investigation, a year after testifying in court, he took the enviable position that gave him a degree of legal protection and privileges when crossing borders. And thanks to all botswanaappointed him in 2012 honorary consul in the United States. (A year later he would change his flag to represent it. Tanzania).
her date carefully approved for him Ministry of Foreign Affairsin charge of approving honorary consuls in the country. And recently, the local Detroit press reported that Michigan has withdrawn Shumake’s real estate license or paid thousands of dollars to settle a lawsuit. alleged bank fraud. None of this caused Washington to question his appointment.
According to a global media investigation, Shumake is among more than 500 honorary consuls around the world who have been in trouble with the law or have had serious disagreements while in office. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and ProPublicaattended NEWSPAPERFrom the Prensa Ibérica group, Country, Sixth and dozens of international media. Others have been ratified by the receiving States, despite the shadows that have surfaced and in some cases been included in their past. criminal record for dishonestattack or arms smuggling.
Control of wages
And it’s neither United States of America nor did most countries in the world take action supervising honorary consuls or change international treaty governing the functions of As this investigation confirms, despite the numerous abuses documented over the past decades. Following his statements, countries including Paraguay, Finland and Brazil announced that they would review their wage practices, but his example is far from the norm. “No one controls them,” says Bob Jarvis, a professor of international law at Nova Southeast University in Florida and one of the first experts to study the wage system in the 1980s. “What are these people doing? And who are they?”
If honorary consuls private citizens without diplomatic training representative as a volunteer interests of a country abroad. The appointments of those chosen because of their reputation and roots in the nation they serve must be accepted by the host country. But many States resolve the process without any scrutiny to the chosen one without even examining him possible criminal record. “a trust based system”, says Lawrence Dunham, former deputy director of protocol for the US State Department, which does not use honorary consuls but accepts them on their territory.
Although there are many honorary officers who honestly perform their consular and representative duties, others abuse some of the privileges required by the position. from inviolability of your communicationto the possibility travel without having your bags checked or diplomatic passportis issued by some States only. Some do it to commit serious crimes; others, ridiculous chefs.
Decades of abuse
Inside United States of AmericaFor example, a Malaysian honorary consul in Denver used his diplomatic status to avoid paying an indemnity. traffic ticket 10 dollars. and another Czech Republic Tried it in the Midwest Empty the IBI He argued that his house became the property of the Czech government after his appointment. But other countries experienced more serious problems that forced them to take drastic measures.
a quarter of a century ago Bolivia After several high-profile scandals, he had to review the entire honorary consulate structure. In one of them, he had to dismiss his representative. Haiti After the country’s police discovered an arsenal of weapons in his private residence, the weapons officials suspected were for supporting anti-government paramilitary groups. “It would be a complete re-evaluation of that outdated system Honorary consuls at the time,” the Bolivian newspaper wrote. Reason in an editorial entitled “The chronic problem of honorary consuls”.
also at that time Costa Rica He left most of his wages abroad after learning that his government had appointed an officer. russian mafia boss to represent their interests Russia. Hungary it also rethought its system in 2003 after a wanted broker fled the country in an honorary consul’s Mercedes. And four years later, Liberia He dismissed some of his staff after it was discovered that some drug dealers and money launderers had passports of the honorary consul of Liberia.
last mover Canada In 2019, after learning that the Syrian representative in the city was driving around the city in a Humvee with a portrait hanging on it. beshar Esad, The Syrian dictator’s Government has started a new process to examine candidates. code of Conduct.
location of spain
However, until now, a collective effort or a the tendency to reevaluate this system prone to abuse and more opaque he even traditional diplomacy. From more than 180 countries that use fees or accept them in their own territory, only 42 of them publish up-to-date information along with their names and destinations by the number of this inquiry. Dozens of countries prefer total blackout.
none Spain It plans to re-examine the system, despite the existence of at least 29 fees that are in trouble with the law. Problems, yes, are rarely directly related to location. Spanish law allows the Government to force the dismissal of these consular deputies in certain cases, for example interference in internal affairs and foreign affairs issues annually reports on the performance of their duties, according to diplomatic sources. “Consulate officials must comply with the laws of States in the performance of their duties and are therefore subject to judicial systems and regulations as a whole,” the same sources said. Two of the honorary consuls investigated for money laundering in Barcelona left when the case broke out, and the third asked to leave this October.
just two years ago United Nations started a course for to train honorary consuls about the ethical and regulatory issues of their work. Something that diplomats have long demanded, demanding minimal training and supervision for their activities. “without strong governance mechanism and transparency, honorary consuls can be isolated and mixed. activities contrary to the interests of the issuing State”, then said the UN institute at the head of the course. However, this course was never repeated. According to the organizers, it did not go beyond its first edition, as there were not enough participants.
Participants in the preparation of the article: Debbie Cenziper, Will Fitzgibbon, Eva Herscowitz, Emily Anderson Stern and Jordan Anderson.