US embassy in Tirana revokes visas of several Albanian judges, prosecutors

 The United States embassy here has revoked the non-immigrant visas of several Albanian judges and prosecutors, the embassy said Thursday in a statement.

Such a decision was taken after reaching the conclusion that the officials no longer qualified for these visas, the embassy said.

The U.S. embassy explained that as visa records were confidential under U.S. law, it couldn't comment on individual cases.

The U.S. embassy took this action in advance of the upcoming vetting process that will assess certain officials' ties to corruption and in response to a case involving the abuse of an official visa by a senior prosecutor and his spouse, leading to a revocation of their visas, according to the statement.

The U.S. embassy said it took allegations of corruption seriously and would continue to review justice officials' visas and visa applications with additional scrutiny.

source: Xinhua