Corruption and justice in Romania

In Romania, the offensive of the Judiciary against high-level corruption continues.

Bogdan Matei, 28.01.2014, 13:16

The Romanian politicians’ murky past continues to catch up with them. Five years after a huge scandal broke, that involved the then youth and sports minister Monica Iacob Rizdzi, and when no one expected the Romanian judiciary to come to the end of it, a surprising ruling was made public on Monday. Monica Iacob Ridzi was sentenced to five years in prison for abuse of office. Two collaborators of former minister Ridzi were also sentenced to prison while nine others received suspended sentences.

The ruling is not yet final and can be appealed, although, according to experts, it is rather unlikely for these rulings to be changed by any other panel. Ridzi was found guilty of illegally handing out contracts to private firms and for having spent huge amounts of money to organize Youth Day on May 2, 2009. Prosecutors said she had also tried to erase evidence of her wrongdoing from her computer at the ministry’s office.

At a time when tens of former or incumbent ministers, MPs, prefects and mayors from either the ruling parties or the opposition are being prosecuted and convicted, the Ridzi case may seem nothing out the ordinary. The case has, however, a few elements that prove it is an uncommon one. It is the first time when a woman politician receives such a tough sentence. Ridzi’s conviction is also a victory of the media, given that the whole scandal had started after an investigation of the journalists with the Gazeta Sporturilor daily newspaper. Then there is also the fact that Ridzi’s conviction dismisses speculations that the Judiciary is acting selectively and on political command, targeting mainly President Traian Basescu’s opponents.

Currently an MP from the Dan Diaconescu Party of the People, Monica Iacob Ridzi was a minister in the Liberal Democrat government headed by Emil Boc, who, at the time, was believed to follow President Basescu’s orders. Moreover, on the 2009 Youth Day, said to have been turned into a day of election campaign, Ridzi appeared in public in the company of the president’s younger daughter, Elena Basescu. The latter was at the time running for a seat in the European Parliament, which she eventually won. Irrespective of political speculations or the media’s belief that the Romanian Judiciary is under political control, another two ministers received final court rulings, also for abuse of office.

Tudor Chiuariu, a member of the ruling National Liberal Party received a suspended sentence of 3 years and 6 months in jail, while Zsolt Nagy, a member of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania also got a suspended 4-year prison sentence. According to prosecutors, the two former officials Ok-ed and participated in the transfer of a building in downtown Bucharest, from the property of the Romanian Post into private hands. The transfer, backed by a government decision, was made through a series of false documents, at a price by 3.6 million Euros lower than its real price.