Radio România Internațional

Tag: corruption investigation

  • November 24, 2023

    November 24, 2023


    IMMUNITY – MPs of the ruling Social-Democratic and Liberal parties announced they would vote to lift the immunity of former Liberal Prime Minister Florin Cîțu, so that anti-corruption prosecutors can launch criminal proceedings against him in an investigation into the purchase of anti-COVID vaccines during the pandemic. Former USR Health Ministers Vlad Voiculescu and Ioana Mihăilă are also accused of abuse of office, and president Klaus Iohannis needs to green-light the lifting of their immunity. Prosecutors say the three purchased more anti-vaccine shots than necessary, causing a prejudice of 1 bln EUR. The three officials could have easily refused the millions of doses allotted to Romania by the EU, without our country having to pay penalties. The vaccines were purchased at a very difficult time during the pandemic, dominated by uncertainty regarding the evolution of the virus, the availability of mass-production of vaccines and the need for re-vaccination, Vlad Voiculescu explained. The former Health Minister blamed Florin Cîțu for taking the final decision, and in turn the former Liberal Prime Minister said every decision taken during his mandate was taken in good faith and in compliance with the law.




    CEASEFIRE – A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel took effect in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, and later today Hamas is expected to release 13 hostages. Qatars contribution was key to securing this ceasefire, in addition to the efforts of Egypt and the USA. Under the agreement, the four-day ceasefire can be extended. 50 Israeli hostages can be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian hostages detained in Israeli prisons. Hostilities between Israel and Hamas broke out after the large-scale October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel which, authorities say, killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and led to the abduction of another 240 people on the day of the attack. In retaliation, Israel promise to obliterate Hamas and has since bombed Gaza uninterruptedly. According to Hamas, the Israeli attacks have killed 15,000 people, including 6,000 children.




    AID – A group of 12 Romanian citizens and members of their families who were evacuated from Gaza into Egypt have been flown back home today onboard a special flight operated by the national airline TAROM, in a complex operation carried out by the Government Task Force, with support from the Romanian Embassy in Cairo and the Representative Office in Ramallah. The government further announced it will provide emergency aid consisting of accommodation and warm meals to the families evacuated from Gaza, irrespective of citizenship. 400 EUR will be provided to a single person or to a family of five every month, while families with more than five members will receive 600 EUR for accommodation expenses. An additional food allowance worth 120 EUR will be paid to every individual. The aid will be provided over a maximum period of four months starting November.




    NADIA MURAD – The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Nadia Murad, is the newest member of the academic community of Timișoara after being awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa title from the West University of the city of Timișoara, which is the European Capital of Culture in 2023. Nadia Murad is the first woman who had the strength and courage to condemn the atrocities committed by the Islamic State of Iraq. In 2014 she was sold by Daesh as a slave and lost her entire family. In her acceptance speech, Murad referred to the suffering of people abducted by ISIS and her efforts to improve the life of the Yazidi, a community she is a part of. Aged 30, Nadia Murad is the fifth Nobel Prize recipient to visit the city of Timișoara this year. (VP)




  • September 27, 2017

    September 27, 2017


    CORRUPTION – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis has stated that the ministers who are being investigated in the so-called ‘Belina’ case, namely the Social Democrats Rovana Plumb and Sevil Shhaideh, should have resigned or should have been sacked. The head of state has criticized the ruling Social Democratic Party for its decision to support the two ministers, who four years ago allegedly transferred an island and an arm of the Danube from state property into the property of Teleorman County. The transfer was illegal. President Iohannis has also voiced worries over the planned changes in the judiciary laws, announced by the line minister Tudorel Toader. Harshly criticized by civil society and the media, Toader’s draft stipulates, among other things, that appointing the heads of the National Anti-corruption Directorate and of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism will no longer be the president’s prerogatives. Also, under the new law, Judiciary Inspection would be part of the Ministry of Justice, and the seniority threshold for the promotion of magistrates will be set higher. Early this year, Government’s attempt to amend, under an emergency decree, the criminal codes, triggered large-scale protests across the country and in the Diaspora. Hundreds of thousands of Romanians took to the streets, accusing the ruling party of trying to exempt from criminal liability top level politicians and decision-makers.



    MINORITY RIGHTS – The Romanian Education Minister Liviu Pop is in Kiev today to discuss with his Ukrainian counterpart Lilia Grinevici the negative effects of the new education law on the Romanian ethnic minority living in Ukraine. Also, according to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Romania will inform the international community about the violation of the right of the Romanians living in Ukraine to study in their mother tongue. These reactions have come following the promulgation on Monday of a law that drastically confines education in minority languages. The approximately 500,000 Romanians in Ukraine form the second largest ethnic community in the country, after the Russian one. More on this after the news.



    TRADE UNION PROTEST – The Romanian health federation Solidaritatea Sanitara (Solidarity for Health) has today announced a string of protests planned for Thursday and Friday. The participants will picket the head offices of the Labour and Health Ministries, following the Government’s announced intention to change the legal provisions regarding the basic salary. According to trade unionists, the change would trigger massive drops in the incomes of most employees in the health-care sector, of up to 60%, as of January 1st 2018. In another move, hundreds of people protested across Romania on Tuesday, after authorities announced that the payment of social contributions would become employees’ responsibility. The protests were staged by Cartel Alfa, one of the largest trade union confederations in Romania, which has announced that protests will continue throughout the week. Trade unionists say that transferring the responsibility of paying social contributions from employers to employees will lead to a drop in the net incomes, the dismantling of the unemployment fund and lower contributions to the pension fund. On October 4th, trade unions will gather for a large protest in Bucharest.



    ARMY EQUIPMENT – By the end of the year, the Romanian Army will have purchased the first Patriot missile system, according to the Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor. He has stated today that Romanian authorities are also discussing the purchase of another 36 F16 fighters from the US. Also today, the Secretary of State for Defense Policy Mircea Dusa and the Chief of Staff of the Romanian Air Forces, the Lieutenant – General Laurian Anastasof, are attending at the air base in Monte Real, Portugal, the ceremony for the reception of three F16 updated fighters. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Defense Ministry, by taking over the three fighters, the Romanian Air Forces have finalized stage I in the process of introducing in the fleet F16 Fighting Falcon multi-role fighters. The first six out of the 12 strong squadron that makes the object of the Romanian – Portuguese agreement became part of the Romanian Air Forces capabilities in September 2016, and the next three in December last year.



    COMPETITIVENESS – Romania ranks 68th in a classification of the most competitive countries in the world, 6 places lower than last year. In the same classification, Switzerland has maintained is leading position for the ninth year in a row, according to a report released by the World Economic Forum. Switzerland is followed in the rankings by the US, Singapore, the Netherlands and Germany. Ranking lower than Romania are countries such as Estonia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary. However, Romania is in a better position that Croatia and Greece. According to the report, the biggest issues facing Romania are taxation, bureaucracy, access to funding, a poorly educated labor force, corruption and the improper use of infrastructure.



    ROWING – Romania’s women’s eight has qualified straight into the finals of the World Rowing Championship in Sarasota – Bradenton, Florida, the US. In the men’s double sculls, Vlad-Dragos Aicoboae and Cosmin Pascari will compete in the semi-finals on Thursday. Ionela-Livia Lehaci and Gianina-Elena Beleaga have qualified for the doubles sculls semi-finals, the light category, to be held also on Thursday. Romania is taking part in the World championships with six crews.



    FOOTBALL – The only Romanian representative in the European football competitions, the vice-champion FCSB (formerly known as Steaua Bucharest) is playing on Thursday, away from home, against the Swiss from Lugano, in the Europa League. In the first Group G game, two weeks ago, FCSB won 3-0, in Bucharest, against Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic. The other game, Hapoel Beer Sheva of Israel defeated Lugano 2-1. In the rankings, FCSB comes 1st, with three points, followed by Hapoel, also with three points.




  • September 1, 2017

    September 1, 2017

    PARLIAMENT — Parliament resumes its plenary sessions today after the summer recess. The main legislative priorities on the agenda are the amendments to the pension law, the laws on the judiciary and setting up the Sovereign Investment Fund. The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies must vote on draft laws pending from the previous session, on legislative initiatives and on the Government’s emergency orders.



    CORRUPTION — The president of the National Health Insurance Authority, Marian Burcea, was arrested today by anticorruption prosecutors. Burcea is suspected of illegally reimbursing medical services. Another 13 people have been arrested in the same case. Burcea was sacked right after his arrest. Anticorruption prosecutors suspect the funds of the Bucharest Health Insurance Authority were embezzled by refunding sham medical services. Hundreds of false medical records were allegedly forged, involving several employees who enjoyed the protection of the institution and of the National Health Insurance Authority. On Thursday, prosecutors searched the headquarters of dozens of companies and institutions, as well as the homes of certain people in Bucharest. The fraud purportedly caused an estimated prejudice of 3 million euros.



    ENESCU FESTIVAL — The George Enescu International Music Festival, one of the most prestigious events of its kind in Europe, kicks off on Saturday and will bring to Bucharest and other 7 cities in Romania over 3,000 of the world’s most acclaimed musicians. For three weeks, spectators will be able to attend some 80 concerts and events. This year’s honorary president of conductor Zubin Mehta, while the festival’s artistic director is another conductor, Vladimir Jurowski. Some of the concerts on the festival’s agenda will be broadcast live on Radio Romania’s culture and music channels. The opening concert will be George Enescu’s “Oedipus” Opera performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski.



    TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu, 57 WTA, has advanced to the third round in the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. In the second round Niculescu ousted another Romanian, Ana Bogdan, 108 WTA, after three sets. Niculescu will next play Jennifer Brady of the United States. The best performance for Monica Niculescu at the US Open was reaching the round of 16 in 2011. Niculescu is the only standing Romanian player in the competition, after Sorana Cirstea lost to Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. Another three Romanians, including Simona Halep, were knocked out in the opening round. In the women’s doubles, Romania is represented by Sorana Cirstea, Irina Begu and Raluca Olaru, while Horia Tecau will be playing in the men’s doubles.



    BASKETBALL — The city of Cluj-Napoca is playing host to matches counting towards Group C of the European Basketball Championships. Romania is playing alongside the defending champions Spain, Montenegro, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. On the competition’s first day Hungary will play Croatia, Spain will take on Montenegro while Romania will play the Czech Republic. The best four teams will advance to the round of 16, to be hosted by Turkey. The 2017 FIBA EUROBASKET final will be played in Istanbul on September 17.



    FOOTBALL — Romania’s football squad is today playing Armenia at home in a match counting towards the 2018 World Cup preliminaries. On Monday Romanian will take on Montenegro away from home. With 6 points in 6 games, Romania still holds mathematical chances of qualifying. Poland is the unchallenged leader of Group E. For the first time in its history Romania has a foreign coach sitting on its bench, German Cristoph Daum, who is facing constant criticism from the media and football experts due to the subpar performances of the national team. (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • September 29, 2016 UPDATE

    September 29, 2016 UPDATE

    BREXIT – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday, said that EU and London authorities should maintain a close relationship after Brexit. Speaking at the European People’s Party Group meeting, the president said it is important for the negotiation process to be carried out by means of transparent, orderly and predictable dialogue. Additionally the president said that Brexit, migration and terrorism are the greatest challenges facing the EU.



    INVESTIGATION – The Prosecutors Office has launched criminal proceedings in the case of the intellectual fraud regarding the doctoral thesis of chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi. The investigation started following the self-denunciation of MP Sebastian Ghita, who claims that together with other high-ranking officials, he forged a report that was to clear Laura Codruta Kovesi of all plagiarism charges. Sebastian Ghita, who is investigated in a number of corruption cases, claims the offense was committed in 2012.



    COMMISSIONER – European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu on Thursday visited Romania to talk to Bucharest authorities about EC priorities and European fund absorption. The Commissioner also discussed projects financed by Europe, and took part in meetings with government officials and conferences attended by members of Parliament and local administration officials. This year, the European commissioner has repeatedly pointed out the risks of low levels of absorption of European funds in the country. Moneys meted out by the EU run the risk of being wasted since no project has been submitted in this fiscal period, according to Corina Cretu. Romania has been allocated 22 billion Euro for the 2014-2020 fiscal period.



    AUTOMOTIVE – The Dacia Duster EDC car model is Renault’s most eagerly expected introduction at the Paris Auto Salon, featuring the latest in drive technology, the double clutch. It will be presented at the Dacia stand alongside the Dacia Sandero and Dacia Sandero Stepway, the Dacia Logan and Dacia Logan MCV. The Dacia brand was acquired in 1999 by Renault, and makes up for about 30% of its sales. Dacia recently confirmed that part of the manufacturing of the Logan MCV model, so far made in Mioveni, in Romania, will shift to Tangiers, in Morocco. The decision was made in order to boost output for the Duster model in Mioveni, against high demand in Europe.



    F-16 – The first batch of six F-16 fighter jets arrived in Romania on Thursday. After yesterday’s ceremony at the Monte Real airbase in Portugal, Romanian pilots brought the aircraft to the airbase in Fetesti, southeastern Romania, after two years of training. The planes have undergone upgrades, in order to be able to operate on an equal footing with other multirole aircraft in NATO’s air wing. The F-16 group will be refreshed by three more aircraft to be delivered by the end of the year, and three more to arrive in 2017. Three years ago, Romania put in an order for the American made 12 war planes to Portugal for a transaction worth 628 million Euro.



    FENCE – A protective fence will be built on the Romanian-Hungarian border only as a last resort, Janos Lazar, the Minister of the Hungarian Ministers office said on Thursday. The Hungarian official added that the Romanian border police is carrying out its activity with utter professionalism. Few refugees arrive in Romania daily, less than in Serbia and Croatia, Janos Lazar said.



    RADIRO – The RadiRo 2016 symphonic music radio orchestra festival has reached its sixth day, after a show put on yesterday by the MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra of Leipzig, the oldest radio orchestra in Germany, conducted by Estonian Kristian Jarvi, honorary director of the festival this year. The soloist was Stefano Bollani, playing four interludes from the opera Intermezzo, by Richard Strauss, Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwhin, and a suite from Swan Lake, by Tchaikovsky. Thursday nights show featured the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Cornelius Meister, with Gideon Kramer as a soloist. The festival runs until October 1st.



    TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, WTA 5th seeded, on Thursday qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament in Wuhan, China, a competition with prizes totaling 2.6 million dollars. She defeated American player Madison Keys 6-4, 6-2. She next plays against Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.



    (Translated by C. Cotoiu and V. Palcu)


  • November 2, 2015

    November 2, 2015

    This is the third day of national mourning in Romania, commemorating the victims of the fire that occurred Friday night at a club in Bucharest. According to the latest reports 30 people died and 150 were injured. Ninety patients admitted in 12 hospitals in the capital city are in a critical or severe condition and the number of deaths may further increase. Prosecutors and the police have opened an investigation and are hearing the witnesses. The tragedy prompted an impressive mobilisation of the Romanian doctors, helped by fellow physicians from Israel and France, and the number of blood donors has tripled. Many countries have sent their condolences to the victims families.



    The former Romanian minister for regional development and tourism Elena Udrea has been heard today at the National Anti-Corruption Directorate in a corruption investigation involving a 3 million euro loan taken out from the private bank BRD. She is facing charges of accessory to abuse of office. Thirty people are prosecuted in this case for the fraudulent contracting of 17 loans. This is the fourth case against Elena Udrea opened by the anti-corruption prosecutors, after the ones known as Microsoft, Gala Bute and Hidroelectrica, in which the former minister was prosecuted on Friday. A close aide of former president Traian Basescu and very influential during his ten years in office, Udrea is one of the highest-profile Romanian politicians probed into for corruption.



    The number of foreign tourists arriving in Romania grew by nearly 20% in the first 9 months of the year, according to the National Statistics Institute. Arrivals in September 2015 were 18.5% higher than in the same months of the previous year. However, in 2014 for example, the money spent by foreign tourists across Romania, around 1.1 billion euros, accounts for less than the total incomes of Disneyland Paris – 1.3 billion euros, the INS explains. According to the World Tourism Organisation, Romania has a share of 0.3% in world tourism in terms of the number of tourists and 0.4% in terms of revenues from tourism. In other news, as of today Romania is taking part in World Travel Market 2015 (WTM). This is the second-largest travel fair in the world, bringing together over 180 countries and more than 50,000 experts. Romania has a 308 sq.m. stand at this fair.



    The European Union Monday promised to work with the new government in Ankara, after the early legislative elections held Sunday in Turkey. According to the EU, the elections, won by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) have confirmed the Turkish peoples strong commitment to the democratic process. The EU promised to join efforts with the new government to improve its partnership with Turkey and carry on bilateral cooperation, to the benefit of all citizens. PM Ahmet Davutoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogans Justice and Development Party won 49.4% of the votes and is to hold 316 of the 550 seats in Parliament. The Republican Peoples Party (CHP) came out second, with 24.5% of the votes, followed by the Nationalist Action Party with around 12%. The pro-Kurdish HDP carried little over 10% of the votes.



    The Liberal-Democrats in the Republic of Moldova are yet to decide whether they will take part in the negotiations with the Democratic Party and the Liberal Party to form a new ruling coalition. Sworn in less than 3 months ago, the Cabinet headed by the Liberal Democratic Party leader Valeriu Streleţ was brought down on Thursday through a no-confidence motion tabled by the Socialists and the pro-Russian Communists, but also backed by the Democrats. On Friday, President Nicolae Timofti appointed the Liberal deputy-PM Gheorghe Brega as interim prime minister. He said the priority for the Republic of Moldova is to form a new pro-European government as soon as possible.



    Some of the victims of the Egypt plane crash have been repatriated to Russia today. The Airbus A 321 operated by the Russian airline Metrojet, with 224 people on board, crashed on Saturday shortly after taking off, in the Sinai region in Egypt. It was carrying Russian tourists who had spent their holidays in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh back to Sankt Petersburg. All the passengers and crew died. The investigation, in which Russian experts are also taking part, is difficult, because the remains of the aircraft are scattered on a 20-km area. The two black boxes have been recovered and will be analysed in Moscow. This is the worst crash in the history of Russian aviation. A similar accident took place in 1985, when an Aeroflot plane went down in Uzbekistan, killing 200 people.

  • October 30, 2015

    October 30, 2015

    The former president of Romania, Traian Basescu, may be prosecuted in a case involving the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in 2005, a Bucharest court decided today, citing abuse of office and conflict of interests among the charges. The case was opened after the former leader of Greater Romania Party, Corneliu Vadim Tudor, filed a complaint to the General Prosecutors Office in 2009, accusing Traian Basescu and his former Interior Minister, the current co-president of the National Liberal Party, Vasile Blaga, of having appropriated some of the 4 million US dollars paid by the Romanian state as ransom for the three journalists. Prosecutors mentioned that the probe into Vasile Blaga was closed in 2010, and prosecution was ruled out. Traian Basescu finds the accusations ridiculous and views the case as an offence to Romania.



    Nine central and eastern-European countries will take part in Bucharest on November 4 in a high-level meeting, attended by the deputy NATO Secretary General, Alexander Vershbow. He has recently said that there are risks when Russia gets involved in operations close to NATO territory. The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, who will be hosting the summit, announced that the participants will release a joint message regarding the adjustment of NATO to the current security context.



    The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu is taking part today, in Ulm (Germany) in the fourth Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, organised by the European Commission. On this occasion, Minister Aurescu will have bilateral meetings with German officials. The EU Strategy for the Danube Region is a major European political project launched by Romania jointly with Austria, and the Forum is its central annual event. The project brings together Danube riparian countries, of which 9 EU members and 5 non-members.



    Romania might reach an absorption rate of over 90% by the end of the 2007-2014 National Rural Development Programme, which means that more than 9 billion euros from national and European funds will have been attracted into the sector, said George Turtoi, secretary of state with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. This programme is the instrument under which non-reimbursable funds are allotted for private and public investments that ensure the development of villages in Romania. The total funds earmarked under this programme were 9.67 billion euro, which should have been contracted by the end of 2013, but can still be paid until the end of 2015, Agerpres reports.



    The mayor of the north-eastern Romanian city of Iasi, Gheorghe Nichita, and a well-known businessman are to find out today whether they will be placed under custody pending trial for 30 days. The two are subject to investigation in a case involving the award of an EU-funded contract amounting to 15 million euros.



    The European Union announced it was closely monitoring the political developments in the Republic of Moldova, after the Parliament in Chisinau Thursday dismissed the Cabinet headed by Valeriu Streletz through a no-confidence motion. In a press release issued by the office of the EU foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, Brussels urges the politicians in Chisinau to form a new and stable government as soon as possible, considering that the Republic of Moldova is experiencing a difficult period in all respects – economic, political and social. The new Cabinet will have to carry on efforts to fight corruption, to solve the banking crisis and to negotiate a new agreement with the IMF, which is vital to ensuring macroeconomic stability, reads the press statement.



    Talks are held in Vienna today between the foreign powers that back the rival parties in the Syrian civil war. According to the BBC, the goal is the bridge the differences between the US and its allies, which support the rebels, and the key supporters of the Syrian regime, Russia and Iran. This is for the first time that Iran takes part in such talks. Recently, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, urged the participants in the Vienna talks to prove “flexibility. The war, which has been going on for four years, started out as a rebellion against the President Bashar al-Assad, and has so far killed 250,000 people, forcing half of the countrys population, nearly 11 million people, to leave their homes.