Romania’s interior minister tenders his resignation
Accused of plagiarism in their doctoral theses, the last two interior ministers in Romania received more bad news on Thursday
Corina Cristea, 02.09.2016, 13:50
The National Anticorruption Directorate requested approval to start prosecuting Petre Toba, who has resigned as a result, and also requested the Senate to approve the prosecution of his predecessor Gabriel Oprea as part of a new case, that of manslaughter.
The technocratic cabinet in Bucharest loses one more member as the National Anticorruption Directorate has requested approval to start prosecuting interior minister Petre Toba. The latter is accused of aiding an offender as he discretionary refused to start procedures to declassify a number of documents required by investigators in a case in which his predecessor, Gabriel Oprea, and other ministry staff are accused of embezzlement.
The case in question concerns the Intelligence and Internal Protection Department, the ministry’s secret service. “I have decided to present my resignation to the prime minister so as not to involve the interior ministry in a public scandal before the elections. I strongly reject the accusations made against me and place myself at the disposal of the investigation bodies to clarify the situation.
All the actions presented in the case are prior to my term in office and prosecutors had access to all documents necessary for prosecution”, Petre Toba says. His resignation came several hours after prime minister Dacian Ciolos said it would be best for Toba to step down and let justice run its course. The former interior minister Gabriel Oprea was also handed his fair share of bad news, as the National Anticorruption Directorate requested the Senate to approve his prosecution as part of a new case.
A former deputy prime minister and interior minister in Victor Ponta’s cabinet, Oprea is accused of manslaughter over the death of a policeman, Bogdan Gigina. The latter died last year in a motorcycle accident while he was providing official police escort for Oprea. The investigation into the policeman’s death looked, among others, into whether Oprea was entitled to official police escort at the time, given that he was believed to be making a personal trip. According to the head of the National Anticorruption Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi, Gabriel Oprea is responsible for the motorcade travelling at high speed, which was one of the causes of the accident in which the policeman was killed. The inquest demonstrated that Bogan Gigina was travelling at a speed of 84 km/hour when the accident occurred.
Official documents revealed that Oprea was making 5 trips per day on average accompanied by official police escort. According to the National Anticorruption Directorate, the minister travelled accompanied by motorcade three times more than the president and two times more than the prime minister, the dignitaries who are entitled to permanent police escort under the law.
