Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors won 870 cases in court last year, with sentences passed against 8 MPs, a cabinet minister, an MEP, chairs of county councils and dozens of mayors. The acquittal rate was below the European average of 10%, said the chief prosecutor of the National Anti-corruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi, during the presentation of the institutions yearly report.
She went on to say that 2016 was a very difficult year for the Directorate, with pressure coming from legislative challenges and unprecedented attacks against the activity and the staff of the institution. Kovesi emphasised that, concurrently with the criminal investigations conducted by judicial institutions, well-defined prevention measures and control mechanisms are necessary, otherwise corruption will remain a common occurrence.
As regards the abuse of office, Codruta Kovesi said that courts have implemented the relevant ruling passed by the Constitutional Court last summer in an inconsistent manner, with more than 70 people sentenced for such offences, and 15 acquitted.
Codruta Kovesi: “There is a large-scale debate in Romania these days regarding abuse of office. The Constitutional Court has not decriminalised abuse of office. This offence has not been found to come against the Constitution, as some people are claiming. On the contrary, the Constitutional Court ruled that this is a valid offence, and that the word ‘flawed in the definition of abuse of office should be read as ‘in breach of the law.
Abuse of office has been the topic of extensive debate recently, and Kovesi pointed out that more than a quarter of the individuals indicted in 2016 were charged with this offence.
Attending the presentation of the annual report was also the Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar, who said that any procedural incident involving the anti-corruption prosecutors is seized by the media and used against the prosecutors and even against the judicial system as a whole. In Lazars opinion, a nearly 10% acquittal rate is quite reasonable, considering the pressures and the hostility that the institution is subject to.
Augustin Lazar: “The defendants often make use of their power and influence, of an impressive arsenal of judicial and mass-media pressure methods, in order to intimidate witnesses and to capitalise on any inconsistencies encountered in some indictments.
A total 226 million euros should be getting into the state budget as a result of final and binding rulings passed by courts in corruption-related cases. President Klaus Iohannis, also attending the event, called on the relevant institutions to do everything in their power to recover the proceeds of crime, because citizens have great expectations in this respect.
(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)
