Trafficking in Bissau-Guinean diplomatic passports in Paris

The traffic of Bissau-Guinean passports takes place in a neighboring street of the Champs-Elysées in Paris.

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Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

Diplomatic passports stamped with the official seal of Guinea Bissau sold to French employers, economists or consultants from a Parisian building.

This is what a

Liberation

investigation reveals

.

He followed in the footsteps of several men who benefited from this market.

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It is by investigating former police officers or soldiers who have become criminals that

the

Liberation

journalist

reveals

this trafficking in official documents. 

He discovers that a former French policeman manages to obtain diplomatic passports from the government of Guinea-Bissau. 

The track leads him to the ground floor of a building in rue Bassano, near the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where the sale of these passports which facilitate border crossings is organized.

They are sold between 50,000 and 200,000 euros. 

Some clients have even tried to acquire even more advantages from the French, explains Laurent Léger: “ 

Several of these people who bought passports tried to be appointed advisers to the delegation of Guinea-Bissau to Unesco. an appointment to Unesco would have entailed legal immunity for acts committed in the exercise of functions. They tried to get themselves appointed, they thought they were, since they had obtained letters from the government of Guinea-Bissau asking Unesco to appoint them advisers. In this case, it was not. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris refused. There must have been an internal investigation. 

"

Contacted by RFI, the Bissau-Guinean ambassador in France who is about to leave her post recognizes the existence of these practices.

She says that the work against the trafficking of official documents will have to continue.

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  • Guinea-Bissau

  • France