MFA Spokesman's Comments: In response to media enquiries on why Dr Silviu Ionescu was not prevented from leaving the country after the accident if he does not enjoy diplomatic immunity

In response to media enquiries as to why if Dr Silviu Ionescu does not enjoy diplomatic immunity as the MFA Spokesman said on 15 April, he was not prevented from leaving the country or arrested after the accident of 15 December 2009, the MFA Spokesman said:

"We should not confuse the privileges and immunities which diplomats enjoy during their posting in a country to which they are accredited with the privileges and immunities they enjoy after leaving the country of accreditation at the end of their postings.

They are different situations and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations clearly recognises these differences.

Article 39.1 of the Vienna Convention states that a diplomat's privileges and immunities begin from the moment he enters the receiving State to take up his post. These privileges and immunities include freedom from detention and arrest (Article 29) and immunity from the jurisdiction of the criminal courts of the receiving State (Article 31.1).

As long as a diplomat remains accredited to a receiving State, his privileges and immunities in that State would apply to all his actions, whether official or private.

So even if Dr Ionescu did not leave Singapore after the accident, as an accredited diplomat we cannot arrest him unless the Romanian government waives his immunity. His immunity then covered anything he did, whether official or private.

But as you know, Dr Ionescu left Singapore on 18 December 2009, three days after the accident.

At that time he was still a diplomat officially accredited to Singapore and therefore could not be prevented from leaving.

Furthermore, the police had at that time not completed their investigations and it was not yet established that Dr Ionescu was the driver of the vehicle that caused the accident on 15 December.

The situation now is different and a different provision of the Vienna Convention now applies.

Article 39.2 of the Vienna Convention stipulates that, after a diplomat's posting ends and he leaves his country of accreditation, some of his privileges and immunities would also end. To be more specific, while he would still enjoy immunity for official acts, he would no longer enjoy immunity for private acts.

The Romanian government has now officially withdrawn Dr Ionescu from Singapore, thus ending his posting with effect from 5 January 2010. He is no longer an accredited diplomat in Singapore. The Coroner's Inquiry has concluded that Dr Ionescu was the driver of the vehicle that caused the accident and that he was acting in a private capacity and engaged in private and not official activity at that time.

Therefore Dr Ionescu does not now enjoy and cannot now claim immunity for the accident. Diplomatic immunity is no longer a relevant issue.

I can understand how these legal technicalities may be confusing to anyone who is not a lawyer or diplomat. I can understand their frustration about how they seem to be preventing justice being done. And we certainly share the outrage all Singaporeans feel about Dr Ionescu's actions and wild statements.

But Singapore's high international reputation as a country that respects the law is a precious asset and we must always observe the law and due process.

We have stressed to the Romanian government many times that it should persuade Dr Ionescu to return to Singapore to stand trial or, if this is not possible, to expeditiously investigate and prosecute him under Romanian law. As I have said before, we are ready to assist the Romanian authorities to the fullest extent under our law.

And as I said yesterday, we are waiting for the Romanian authorities to propose specific dates for their relevant officials to visit Singapore so that we can share the evidence we have with them. We hope they will visit Singapore soon.

Let me emphasize that the Romanian authorities have acted entirely properly so far and have repeatedly stressed that they share our interest in seeing that justice is served. It is not in Romania's own interest to allow the actions of one individual to continue to disgrace the entire country."
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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
16 APRIL 2010