State Dep't denies cover-up

Outside law-enforce-ment experts are looking into how the State Depart-ment investigates allegations of sexual crimes and other serious misconduct by diplomats amid charges that senior officials have improperly halted such probes.

The department said yesterday that its internal watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General, had contracted with former law-enforcement agents to review the process and determine whether investigators in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security have the independence necessary to do their jobs effectively. Officials said the review was expected to be complete later this summer.

The review was ordered after at least one investigator complained that probes into several cases, including allegations of diplomats soliciting prostitutes, had been quashed by higher-ups for political or other reasons.

The State Department adamantly denied that any allegations of questionable or illegal behaviour by diplomats have been covered up and said that any proven wrongdoing is punished.