United States authorities have charged nine people over the alleged sale of US entry visas from the American embassy in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.

The US State Department is taking the matter seriously

Two former US State Department workers were among those accused.

All nine people are accused of conspiring to defraud the US Government, to bribe public officials and to commit visa fraud.

If convicted, they could face up to 15 years in prison.

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The two former State Department are a married couple who worked at the embassy between 2000 and 2003.

The couple, Mr Acey R Johnson and Mrs Long N Lee, were charged after an 11-month long investigation by the Diplomatic Security Service.

Deputy spokesman for the State Department, Philip Reeker, said the Consular Section in Colombo was now closed in order to fully assess the situation.

"In order to ensure the integrity of the visa issuance process, the Consular Section in Colombo has closed temporarily for all but emergency services, for a thorough review of operations," he told AFP news agency.

The indictment, in a court in California, followed the arrests of eight of the suspects.

One defendant is still at large.

The 130-page document outlining the charges was released in Sacramento on Wednesday and alleged that hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid to the employees, "in exchange for the issuance of visas to various foreign nationals, primarily from Vietnam and India."

Most of the arrests were made in California and Virginia by US federal agents.

Mrs Lee, who was the chief administrative officer at the embassy, was arrested outside Washington after being escorted from Colombo.