US ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman has denied allegations by the State Department watchdog that he solicited prostitutes in a public park in Brussels.
“I am angered and saddened by the baseless allegations that have appeared in the press and to watch the four years I have proudly served in Belgium smeared is devastating,” Gutman said in a statement on Tuesday.
The reaction came a day after a State Department internal memo, obtained by the CBS News, revealed that the Departmentâ„¢s security force, the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), had tried to cover up sex and drugs charges against agents and diplomats working for the State Department.
According to the documents, Gutman is accused of soliciting “sexual favors from both prostitutes and minor children.” His case is one of the eight examples in the memo where inquiries were “influenced, manipulated, or simply called off” by more senior officials.
The ambassador was called to Washington D. C. to have a meeting with Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy about the issue but was permitted to go back to his regular duties, the CBS said.
Kennedy had ordered the investigation to stop, according to the New York Post which also obtained the State Department documents.
A veteran reporter based in Brussels told The Cable that Gutman is known in the European capital as “the American guy who goes to shitty little Belgian towns even Belgians haven’t heard of.”
Gutman, formerly a Washington lawyer, reportedly raised at least $500,000 for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign committee and $275,000 for his inauguration committee. He was sworn in as ambassador in August 2009.
MA/AS
This article originally appeared on: Press TV