BEIJING — When he was dismissed from his post as a senior U.S. diplomat here, Charles Matthew Parish braced for what he expected would be a grueling investigation of his activities.
His superiors accused Parish of using his position to grant visas for friends, of accepting gifts in excess of strict State Department limits, and of improper fraternization with Chinese women. Several of the women accompanied Parish on trips back home to Los Angeles and Phoenix, where they all stayed free of charge as guests of the representative of a Chinese state trading company.
Parish, an ex-Marine who was on his fourth foreign assignment for the State Department, acknowledges acts that appear to violate a State Department code of conduct during his tour as chief of the visa section in the busy Beijing consulate. When he was removed from Beijing in May 1996, he said he was prepared for the worst--a criminal investigation into whether he had broken bribery or visa fraud laws.
Embassy security officers sealed his office, seized documents and barred Parish from coming back.
But there was no timely follow-up. Instead, Parish, now 52, was transferred to Washington, assigned a sensitive post in the State Department, sent on special assignments abroad and awarded a merit raise. Eventually he retired on an annual pension of $43,000.
The Parish case illustrates the slow, cumbersome and spotty way that the State Department and the Department of Justice handle problems among U.S. diplomats, including visa officers. About 800 diplomats in 230 consulates have the power to issue one of the world's most coveted documents--the visa that grants permission to enter the United States. These diplomats regularly face what one former official called the "terror" of the visa line--from death threats to heart-wrenching pleas, as well as offers of bribes from desperate applicants.
The vast majority of these diplomats resist temptation. But those suspected of issuing visas in exchange for money, gifts or sexual favors often are allowed to retire or move to another post rather than face extensive investigation or prosecution. The lack of strong action against them weakens the nation's "first line of defense" against illegal immigration and internal security threats, as well as State Department morale.
Despite his dramatic departure, two years passed before Parish directly faced FBI and State Department investigators. Even then, it took something special: His name surfaced in connection with the U.S. presidential campaign finance scandal.
