New York City is owed more than $16 million for
unpaid parking tickets issued to diplomatic vehicles, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Egypt alone owes nearly $2 million, the WSJ reported, and five other countries – Nigeria, Indonesia, Brazil, Morocco, and Pakistan – each owe more than $500,000.
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Most of those unpaid tickets track back to 2002 or before. Since then, the city has cracked down on parking violations, with the State Department making diplomats give up their plates about 70 times and not renewing registrations for those with unpaid tickets.
The Wall Street Journal tried to get comments from several embassies on the issues, but most skated around direct answers or declined to comment.
“I don’t have details about the subject, unfortunately,” Ahmed Sharaf, of Egypt, told the WSJ. His country owes $894,000.
Brazil spokesman Joao Francisco Pereira told the WSJ that they have asked for "detailed information concerning this issue." Brazil owes more than $600,000.
It’s tough for New York City to collect the unpaid debt because, even though the U.S. Department of State that issues the diplomatic license plates requires that parking tickets be paid, most diplomats and officials from consulates were allowed to ignore them, the WSJ said.
The fact that officials can get away with not paying their parking tickets doesn’t sit well with a lot of the public. In Washington, D.C.,
Fox 5 reporter Emily Miller highlighted the unpaid tickets of various councilmembers, including Marion Barry, who owed $2,000.
Recently Miller wrote about Jack Evans, another council member, who owed for six unpaid parking tickets, which suddenly disappeared from his record.
“All week, we have seen the same thing — city council members have unpaid parking tickets. Then suddenly they don't and the DMV still can't explain how these politicians can renew their tags with parking tickets on their records,” Fox5 reported.
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