Radio România Internațional

Tag: high-level corruption

  • MPs vote for shutting down the Section Investigating Crime in Justice

    MPs vote for shutting down the Section Investigating Crime in Justice

    The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest
    on Wednesday adopted the bill for the elimination of the Section Investigating
    Crime in Justice, a promise of the center-right ruling coalition. Dubbed the
    Special Section, the institution was created by the Social Democrats and
    sparked widespread controversy in Romanian society, being equally criticized by
    the relevant European institutions. The new body had become operational in
    November 2018, being charged with the criminal prosecution of judges and
    prosecutors and any other people involved in their investigations. Fears arose
    that the Section could be used to influence investigations into top-level graft
    targeting politicians.

    The creation of the Section Investigating Crime in
    Justice was a big mistake. It’s a disgrace for the Romanian justice system, as
    we look back and analyze the activity of this section, Justice Minister
    Stelian Ion said on Wednesday. The Romanian official said that, beyond a few
    investigations targeting brave magistrates, the institution had no special
    achievements. On the contrary, 6,000 cases are still pending and effectively
    blocked, the Minister said. Stelian Ion pointed out that corruption
    investigations and those linked to organized crime and terrorism should be
    handled by specialized prosecutors. The elimination of the Special Section
    however didn’t occur in the form presented by the Government, but with one
    additional amendment, providing that judges and prosecutors should be searched,
    detained and put an pre-trial arrest at home only with the approval of the Superior
    Council of Magistracy. The result reflects a compromise at the level of the
    ruling coalition, but some politicians hope the Senate, which is the
    decision-making body in this matter, will make some adjustments to the bill.
    The amendment concerning the Council’s approval will allegedly be used by the
    Social Democrats to challenge the law at the Constitutional Court.

    The
    Social-Democratic Party and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians in
    opposition have opposed the elimination of the Section, voting against it in
    the Chamber of Deputies. Social MP Simona Teodoroiu claims over a thousand
    magistrates have signed and submitted a memorandum to the Chamber of Deputies, calling
    for rejecting the bill and notifying the international relevant authorities.
    Chamber of Deputies Speaker Liberal Ludovic Orban says he hasn’t received the
    memo yet. AUR representatives called for keeping and reforming the section. The
    bill passed with 171 votes in favor, 136 against and 2 abstentions. The
    elimination of the Special Section also falls in line with the recommendation
    issued by the European Commission in its report on Romania, as a prerequisite
    for lifting the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. (V.P.)

  • Anti-corruption in the focus in Strasbourg

    Anti-corruption in the focus in Strasbourg

    For quite a while described as the most powerful woman in Romania and indicated by opinion polls as the hypothetically favourite presidential candidate of the right wing electorate, the head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate(DNA), Laura Codruta Kovesi has already gained a flattering international fame. She has recently been invited by the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Sofia, the capital of neighboring Bulgaria, to share the Romanian experience in a sensitive area in both states. 90% of corruption files in Romania result in convictions, but that percentage is 30 times lower in Bulgaria as Radio Romanias correspondent in Sofia reports; so, the Romanian strategy could be relevant for the Bulgarian neighbors.



    On Monday, Mrs. Kovesi was invited to attend the Strasbourg Conference of GRECO – the Council of Europes anti-corruption body. The debates focused on preventing corruption in top-level government positions and law-enforcing agencies; the previous such conference focused on corruption among MPs, judges and prosecutors. The Strasbourg conference addressed issues related to conflicts of interest, the policies of recruiting former members of the executive and legislative branches for the private sector, financial statements and accountability mechanisms. Romania needs to have its legislation revised and a greater transparency in public procurement to be able to combat high-level corruption more effectively – Mrs. Kovesi said in Strasbourg.



    She explained that the ministers immunity must be confined to their term in office so that the investigation of those suspected of corruption might be carried on. In her speech posted on the GRECO website and taken over by press agencies, the anti-corruption chief gave the example of a minister suspected of having received about 45,000 Euros in order to facilitate the granting of contracts to certain companies and the investigation was closed because Parliament had failed to lift his immunity. That was one of the Directorates failures in an anti-corruption campaign which in 2016 alone resulted in over one thousand high and medium ranking officials being prosecuted. They include 3 ministers, 6 senators, 11 deputies, 47 mayors, 16 magistrates and 21 directors of national companies. However, the results were not always that spectacular.



    In 2006, prior to Romanias accession to the European Union, only 360 high-level corruption cases were prosecuted in Romanian courts. Four years later, the number of indictments exceeded 900 and reached 1,273 in 2016. According to GRECO experts, the Directorates results were based on the real independence of the judiciary, the prosecutors specialization, a functional law and the consensus of the political class, which at least in declarative terms, backs the anti-corruption fight, although politicians themselves are at the center of some of the most notorious investigations. (Translated by A.M. Palcu)