Radio România Internațional

Tag: corruption scandal

  • Romania and the Panama Papers

    Romania and the Panama Papers

    The golden days of tax havens began after World War Two. Tax havens first appeared as a means of paying lower taxes. Using them is not considered illegal, only possibly immoral, but some may not even agree with this description. In recent years, financial experts have warned that tax havens have become more than a way of paying less tax, thus concealing a problem in the state of residence. Under the protection of anonymity, offshore companies may be used to channel untaxed or illegally obtained money.



    The recent Panama Papers scandal shows that heads of state, top-level politicians, billionaires, celebrities, sports figures and financial institutions, as well as criminal networks, have used more than 20 tax havens to hide their money. From 1977 until 2015, the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm, the worlds fourth biggest offshore law firm, created and managed more than 214,000 shell companies for their clients from over 200 countries and territories, including Romania. The Social Democrat Euro MP Victor Negrescu said in a press release that according to revelations in the local media, the amount of money hidden away in tax havens by Romanian business people is equal to the countrys health care budget and more than the budget allocated to youth. Neculae Plaiasu, the head of the National Office for Prevention and Control of Money Laundering provides some specific figures:



    “From 2003 and March 2016, the Office has records of 286 natural persons and legal entities that transferred money to and from Panama. In specific figures, 21.7 million euros went in and 50.5 million came out.



    Neculae Plaiasu also said his Office last year submitted 13 reports to the General Prosecutors Office with the High Court of Cassation and Justice and another 6 to the Romanian Intelligence Service over suspicious financial activities. The president of the National Agency for Tax Management Dragos Doros says there are suspicions about Romanian citizens and companies who may have carried out money laundering activities in connection to the Panama Papers. The Agency is now working to obtain the necessary information. Dragos Doros:



    “At this point, every piece of tax information must be carefully weighed. This type of information cannot be established in a matter of days. No tax authority in Europe has so far made public its conclusion.



    Both the head of the National Agency for Tax Management and that of the National Office for Prevention and Control of Money Laundering have called for an improvement in the legal framework to prevent tax evasion.


    (Translated by C. Mateescu)

  • New corruption cases in the spotlight in Bucharest

    New corruption cases in the spotlight in Bucharest

    The countrys local administration has been decimated by corruption scandals, with almost half of the number of local officials having problems with the law. In 2015 alone, 14 town mayors, 9 county council presidents and one prefect were indicted. Bucharest has six sectors and three of their mayors are currently under investigation for corruption, having already been detained and released from temporary custody, including the Liberal Sector 1 mayor Andrei Chiliman, the Progressive Sector 4 mayor Cristian Popescu Piedone and the Social Democrat Sector 5 mayor Marian Vanghelie.



    Bucharests general mayor himself, Sorin Oprescu, who ran as an independent but is close to the Social Democratic Party, faces trial for corruption, having also been temporarily detained. What sets Neculai Ontanu apart is his longevity on the political scene and his long career as a mayor. First elected in 2000, he has already served four terms and was leading in opinion polls ahead of the upcoming elections on the 5th of June. Moreover, Ontanu has become the interim president of the third biggest party in Parliament, the National Union for the Progress of Romania, whose founding leader and the countrys former deputy prime minister and interior minister Gabriel Oprea is also facing corruption charges.



    Ontanu is accused of receiving 1,500 sq. meters of land in Bucharest as bribe in the 2006-2007 period. Commentators in Bucharest say Ontanus detention by prosecutors will lead to his exit from the election race and speed up his partys disintegration. The partys MPs are, in fact, already defecting to other parliamentary parties in the run-up to the legislative elections in autumn. Just like the local administration, the next Parliament will also look significantly different, given that tens of MPs have been charged for acts of corruption.



    The latest MP to find himself in this situation is Sebastian Ghita, who is close to the former Social Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta and who was accused on Wednesday of blackmail and of wrongfully using confidential information.

  • Scandal around the president

    Scandal around the president

    During his ten years in office, Romania’s president Traian Basescu has constantly been the target of political scandals or involved in delicate situations.



    However, pundits say the recent scandal involving his younger brother, Mircea Basescu, may prove the toughest challenge yet for the president. Mircea Basescu has been placed under a 30-day pre-emptive arrest as part of an investigation, in which he is accused of receiving bribes of some 250,000 euros in exchange for using his influence to obtain a milder sentence for a man known as Bercea Mondial, a well-known crime boss called Sandu Anghel by his real name. Anghel is currently serving time for attempted murder.



    Although he categorically dismissed all allegations of having been involved in his brother’s interference with the justice system, president Basescu is now the target of what the media has described as “the scandal of the year”.



    The left-wing ruling coalition, made up of the Social-Democratic Party and the National Union for the Progress of Romania, together with their new partner, the Dan Diaconescu Party of the People, is leading the charge against president Basescu, calling for his immediate resignation.



    Parliament has already adopted a declaration, with 344 votes in favour and 17 abstentions, which although cannot legally make Basescu resign, may well be able to deal the deathblow to Basescu’s popularity. The Social-Democrat MP Gabriela Firea argues:



    “Romania’s president Traian Basescu is no longer entitled to ensure the prestige, independence and legitimacy of the office he holds, which is why he should immediately tender his resignation as head of state”.



    Although they have also called for Basescu’s resignation, the Liberals say the speakers of both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, namely the former Liberal member Calin Popescu Tariceanu and the Social Democrat Valeriu Zgonea respectively, have no moral grounds to call for the resignation of the president. Liberal MP Ludovic Orban:



    “While you want to get rid of Traian Basescu in order to win voters, we want to get rid of Traian Basescu because we believe he is no longer in a position to fight against corruption”.



    The Liberal Democratic Party and the Movement of the People Party, in opposition, did not take part in the vote, while the MPs of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania were free to vote as their conscience told them, says party leader Kelemen Hunor.