Germany to Check 18,000 Asylum Decisions Amid Bribe Scandal

Posted by African Examiner Europe, Latest Headlines, World News Friday, May 18th, 2018

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) will check 18,000 decisions on granting asylum since 2000 on suspicion of corruption in its Bremen branch, local media reported on Friday.

In April, a scandal erupted after it was revealed that a former official of BAMF’s Bremen regional office and his four other colleagues took bribes in exchange for granting around 1,200 refugees with asylum, although they did not fulfil the criteria.

According to the Zeit newspaper, citing BAMF chief Jutta Cordt, the agency’s 70 employees would have to inspect 18,000 positive decisions on granting asylum since 2000.

It will reportedly take three months.

On Thursday, German Interior Minister, Horst Seehofer, announced that he tasked the Supreme Audit Institution to examine the BAMF and the German Interior Ministry amid the bribes scandal.

Germany has become a major destination for thousands of migrants and refugees from the Middle East amid instability caused by the civil war in Syria and the activity of terrorist groups in the region.

According to BAMF, between 2014 and 2016 the country received over one million asylum applications, more than any other country in the European Union.

As a result of the influx, the German authorities have tightened migration controls. (NAN)