After being constantly in the headlines
\nsome years back, the fight against top-level corruption has lost some steam in
\nrecent years. Seen by many as the spearhead of this fight, the former head of
\nthe National Anticorruption Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi was removed from
\noffice by president Klaus Iohannis following pressure from the former Social
\nDemocrat-led government. She is now the chief of the newly created European Public
\nProsecutor’s Office based in Brussels. The Country’s Supreme Defence Council
\nled by president Klaus Iohannis excluded corruption from its latest national
\nsecurity strategy as a possible threat to the state. Despite this, high-profile
\ncases still find a resolution now and then, leading to sentences for big names from
\npolitics, the media and the business community.<\/p>\n
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One such case was the illegal return of the
\nformer royal farm in Baneasa and of the Snagov forest, both located near
\nBucharest, something that caused a loss to the state of over 140 million euros.
\nAn influential head of cabinet in the government of the Social Democrat Adrian
\nNastase, the businessman Remus Truica was handed down a final 7-year prison sentence
\nby the High Court of Cassation and Justice. A direct descendant, albeit through
\na morganatic marriage, of Romania’s former king Carol II, a man best known to
\nthe public as Prince Paul of Romania got three years and four months in prison,
\nwhile the controversial journalist Dan Andronic was given a 3-year suspended sentence
\nand 60 days of community service. Apostol Musat, the former mayor of Snagov and
\nNicolae Jecu, the former prefect of Ilfov county, received 4 years in prison. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Truica, the star of this heterogeneous
\ngroup, was charged by the National Anticorruption Directorate for creating an
\norganised crime group, peddling in influence, money laundering, complicity to
\nabuse of office and bribe giving. Prince Paul was charged with buying influence
\nand money laundering in aggravated form. According to magistrates, these crimes
\nwere committed between 2006 and 2013 with the aim of obtaining goods of great
\nvalue, which Prince Paul claimed but to which he had no right. The court also ruled
\nto confiscate various properties in Snagov from Truica and over 5 million euros
\nfrom Prince Paul. Moreover, the defendants must together pay the forest
\nauthority Romsilva more than 1 million euros in damages. The High Court also
\nruled that the land with a surface area of over 170,000 square metres will be
\nreturned to the public domain. (CM)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well-known names will end up behind bars in a corruption scandal that caused the state huge losses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":87498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[28950],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-87497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-corruption"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n