SINGAPORE: A public officer connected to the Singapore Excessive Fee in London has been warned following an alleged youngster neglect incident, mentioned the Ministry of Overseas Affairs (MFA) on Friday (Nov 15).
MFA mentioned the incident in September 2023 occurred when the Singaporean officer left his sleeping youngsters at residence to choose up his partner at evening.
One youngster wakened and managed to exit the locked home to search for the dad and mom, earlier than being discovered a brief distance away.
“This led to the involvement of the native police within the matter. The authorities have investigated and closed the incident with no follow-ups required,” mentioned MFA in response to CNA queries.
“We respect the professionalism of the native police in dealing with the scenario. The officer was counselled and issued with a warning following the incident.”
The incident had been brought up in British parliament on Thursday by junior overseas minister Catherine West. She cited it as one among 9 instances recorded with the overseas ministry in 2023, of “critical and vital offences” by suspects with diplomatic immunity.
They included a Libyan accused of sexual assault, an Iraqi accused of possession or distribution of indecent pictures of youngsters and a Portuguese accused of indecent publicity.
MFA mentioned on Friday it was conscious that the incident was included within the UK Overseas, Commonwealth and Improvement Workplace’s (FCDO) annual report back to the UK parliament on offences dedicated by people with diplomatic immunity. Nevertheless it mentioned that diplomatic safety was not invoked on this case.
“The officer had cooperated absolutely within the investigation and diplomatic immunity was not invoked at any level,” mentioned MFA.
“The officer has since deposted as scheduled,” it added.
MFA added that it expects all its workers and different officers connected to its missions to uphold the very best requirements of conduct and to abide by the legal guidelines of their host international locations.
