U.S. Diplomat Charged With Selling Visas

A former senior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid has been charged with conspiring to sell false U.S. entry visas to Iranians and was arrested at his State Department office, a department spokesman said today.

Bernard J. Fennell, former first secretary and consul at the Madrid embassy--and its anti-fraud officer --was named in a 21-count indictment charging that he participated in an elaborate scheme with six others to sell the false visas to Iranians living in Europe.

As much as $5,000 was paid for a single visa, and $15,000 bought visas for a family of five, the indictment said.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the fraudulent visa sales “were a cash-and-carry operation. No humanitarian considerations were involved.”

Arrested at State Dept.

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Miami, was unsealed late Monday following Fennell’s arrest at his State Department desk.

Fennell, who supervised the visa operation at the Madrid embassy, was scheduled to appear later today before a U.S. magistrate in Florida, where the Iranians actually entered the United States.

The indictment charges that Fennell conspired with Harry Arjad, a naturalized U.S. citizen, to sell the false visas.

The indictment listed charges of conspiracy to defraud the government and visa fraud.

5 Iranians Charged

Five Iranians were charged with participating in the conspiracy by using their unlawfully obtained visas to enter the United States.

According to the indictment, Arjad and an unidentified agent traveled throughout Europe soliciting money for U.S. entry visas from Iranian citizens.

The indictment says Arjad and his agent would collect the Iranians’ passports and take them to Fennell, who would produce nonimmigrant visas.

The Iranian passports were then returned to their holders by Arjad and his agent with visas that allowed their holders to live in the United States, the indictment said.

One of the defendants, Saeid Fegiram, paid Arjad $5,000 in U.S. currency for a visa during a July, 1986, meeting in Tel Aviv, the indictment said.

A month later, Arjad was paid $15,000 in Frankfurt, West Germany, by an Iranian who wanted visas for his wife and the couple’s three children, the indictment adds.

Fennell is charged with later issuing the visas, which were returned to the couple by Arjad.

The indictment listed 12 sales that allegedly took place in Frankfurt, Tel Aviv and Istanbul between July, 1986, and December, 1986.

Redman said Fennell had been recalled from Madrid several weeks ago after the investigation was initiated by the department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.