On Tuesday, a search warrant issued by the national anti-corruption authority (DNA) for two real estate locations owned by the former PM Adrian Nastase was rejected by the Lower Chamber.
The MPs from Social-Democrat and ‘Greater Romania’ parties in opposition as well as those from the Conservative Party (member of the ruling coalition) voted against the search warrant – thus obstructing the anti-corruption authority’s attempt of getting additional proofs in a bribery probe against the former Social-Democrat PM Nastase.
The prominent journalist, Cristian Tudor Popescu (editor-in-chief of ‘Gandul’ daily), labeled this parliamentary vote as an ordinary self-protective reaction of the new emerging ‘nomenklatura’.
C. T. Popescu points out that the now most influent Romanian MPs (and businessmen) were ‘produced’ by the Ceausescu’s communist regime and that they are trying to replicate and preserve the nomenklatura-type of social and economic privileges.
Therefore, the harsh anti-corruption fight started by Romania’s President Traian Basescu and Justice Minister Monica Macovei is facing a die-hard resistance from top ranking politicians and businessmen, whose links with the communist regime are of common knowledge.
Here are some examples of top so-salled ‘new-nomenklatura’ personalities facing corruption charges at this moment:
- Former PM, Adrian Nastase – during Ceausescu’s regime he had a job at the ‘Legal Research Institute’ in Bucharest (1973-1990) and in 1977 he was vice-president of the ‘Association of International Law and International Relations’ (at that time, such positions could not be reached by ‘ordinary’ people); his wife (Daniela) is the daughter of a former agriculture minister under Ceausescu;
- Liberal boss and oil tycoon, Dinu Patriciu – under Ceausescu’s regime he ran an important architectural project in the Gulf area (local media alleged that such jobs required certain ties to the former ‘Securitate’ secret services);
- Conservative deputy-PM and wealthy businessman, George Copos – former activist in the ‘Communist Youth Organization’ (UTC) under Ceausescu.
On Thursday, after gaining MP’s support, Nastase gave a press statement pretending he is ready to co-operate with anti-corruption authority but, in exchange, he asked the prosecutors for a detailed descriptions of the items they wanted to search (sic!).
Also on Thursday, Dinu Patriciu (boss of the ‘Rompetrol’ oil group) held a press conference as his company was stopped from trading on the bourse floor and a lien has been placed on ‘Rompetrol Rafinare’ shares. Under these circumstances, Patriciu said that the local stock exchange would be severely harmed by this kind of actions adding that foreign investors would leave the market.
Patriciu accused President Basescu directly by saying that the head of state is a demagogue who unleashed an ‘anti-corruption hysteria’ and again said Basescu is behind investigation against him.
The Prosecution Office with the Supreme Court has placed a lien on the shares in ‘Rompetrol Rafinare’ owned by Rompetrol Group, Rompetrol Rafinare reads a press release issued to the Bucharest Stock Exchange. “The lien was placed without prosecutors having informed the company beforehand about this measure or about the reasons why the prosecutors asked for the lien to be placed,” reads the release.
Elsewhere, a local NGO filed a complaint to the anti-corruption authority asking for inquiries on the personal assets of several high-ranked politicians – namely Dan Voiculescu (the ‘Conservative Party’ boss, who acted as general manager of the ‘Crescent’ off-shore company during Ceausescu’s regime – company allegedly dealing with secret ‘Securitate’ funds), George Copos (Conservative Party senator and deputy-PM), Radu Berceanu (Democrat Party senator), Verestoy Attila, Miron Mitrea (Social-Democrat Party secretary and former minister), and even the acting PM Calin Popescu-Tariceanu.
The NGO asks prosecutors to check these six dignitaries because of unclear matters allegedly detected in their statements of interests. An actual peak of the ongoing anti-corruption was reached today as the Supreme Magistrates Council (CSM) discussed a complaint against Romania’s President Traian Basescu filed by the ‘Romanian Magistrates Association’. The association’s protest reads that President Basescu allegedly infringed separation of state powers when publicly stating that judiciary system is corrupted.
Basescu attended the CSM meeting in order to maintain his statement by elaborating his position and to openly agree with the judges’ right in complaining against him. Moreover, Basescu advised the Council to forward the case to the Constitutional Court.
Romania Report
No comments:
Post a Comment