Police seek to strip U.S. diplomat of immunity for alleged fraud

BUSAN, Nov. 10 (Yonhap) -- Police said Tuesday they have sought the U.S.
government's help in stripping an employee of the U.S. Embassy in South Korea of
his diplomatic privileges in order to charge him with fraud against a South
Korean woman.

The diplomat, a 50-year-old man, is suspected of having extorted and used 240
million won (US$206,000) he took from the woman, 50.
He is facing allegations that he defrauded her of the money from September 2007
until June last year by asking her to invest in establishing a computer school in
the Philippines in return for high dividends.
The Haeundae police in the port city of Busan have made a request to the U.S.
government via the South Korean foreign ministry that the man be stripped of his
diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The police have found that he had no business plan after conducting probe into
him in cooperation with the U.S. government.
During the police investigation, the American rejected the allegations, saying he
"was unable to make the investment for various reasons," according to the police.
The police plan to book the diplomat if the U.S. government agrees to forgo his
diplomatic immunity.
(END)