A new mandate for the chief the National Anti-Corruption Directorate
The resounding cases solved by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate in Romania have led to the re-investment of Laura Codruta Kovesi as chief prosecutor.
Bogdan Matei, 07.04.2016, 13:48
On Wednesday the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis signed a decree, which gives a new 3-year term at the helm of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate to Laura Codruta Kovesi, the most successful prosecutor of the moment in Romania. In an interview granted to the public television, the Romanian President said that the main argument in re-investing Ms. Kovesi as chief prosecutor was the success of her first mandate.
Klaus Iohannis: “As regards Ms. Kovesi I can tell you very clearly that I have no doubts or question marks. The results obtained by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate in the past years and even in the recent years and in 2015 are quite impressive”.
Figures are very telling. The National Anti-Corruption Directorate’s activity report for 2015 includes, for the first time, the investigation and subsequent prosecution of an acting Prime Minister, namely the Social Democrat Victor Ponta, as well as the arrest of a judge of the Constitutional Court, Toni Grebla, and of Bucharest’s independent mayor, Sorin Oprescu.
The National Anti-Corruption Directorate’s prosecutors also asked for the taking into temporary custody of an acting minister, namely the Finance Minister Darius Valcov. 4 out of Bucharest’s 6 district mayors have been arrested, and legal action has been taken against tens of current and former MPs, mayors, and county council presidents.
According to a National Anti-Corruption Directorate communiqué, the prosecution rate has been maintained at 90%, which is indicative of the professionalism of anti-corruption prosecutors and of the quality of evidence the cases have been built on. The protagonists of corruption cases, be they leftwing or rightwing officials, politicians in power or in opposition, from Bucharest or from across Romania, cover the entire political spectrum.
Thus, the more popular the National Anti-Corruption Directorate’s chief has grown among regular citizens, the more detested she has become by high-ranking corrupt people and their representatives in the mass media or by various individuals hired to do dirty jobs on behalf of the so-called white collars. Frequently contested and defamed, Laura Codruta Kovesi has recently been the target of a foiled intimidation attempt.
Former Israeli intelligence officers have threatened her on the phone on a couple of occasions and have also conducted phishing attacks in order to acquire sensitive information from the e-mail accounts of her relatives and friends. The Romanian anti-Mafia prosecutors have already arrested two persons in this case, but the authorities in Tel Aviv have denied any involvement.
A communiqué of the Israel embassy in Bucharest points out that the investigation started in this case targets employees of a private company, which has no connection whatsoever with an Israeli state institution.
