New criminal case against Social Democratic leader

Dragnea is accused of misusing European funds

Ştefan Stoica, 14.11.2017, 13:57

Liviu Dragnea, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and the head of the Social Democratic Party, the main party in the ruling coalition in Romania, has been prosecuted in a new criminal case. Anti-corruption prosecutors accuse him of having set up an organised crime group, of abuse of office and of misspending European funds back in the early 2000s, when he was the chairman of the Teleorman County Council.

According to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, the case was based on a notification sent by OLAF, the European anti-fraud office, in September 2016, related to several offences, including the use of fraud in order to illegally get funding for county road infrastructure works. The organised criminal group that Dragnea has allegedly set up is still operational, and includes business people and local administration officials, prosecutors also said. According to OLAF, the estimated damages are around 21 million euros, and the money must be recovered.

The Social Democratic leader denies all accusations, and says he has the support of both his fellow party members, and of the head of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, Calin Popescu Tariceanu:

Liviu Dragnea: “I categorically deny all accusations. I stand by what I have been saying for years, namely that I have no financial ties whatsoever with that company. I had a talk with Mr. Tariceanu this morning, he called me after I got to the Chamber of Deputies and he told me to uphold my position and to keep our coalition running. I dont believe the coalition is affected. Only I am.

The National Liberal Party and Save Romania Union in opposition believe however that the affair stains the image of the Romanian Parliament as well, so they call on Dragnea to step down as speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.

Liviu Dragnea is also tried for inciting abuse of office in a case involving fictitious employment at a public institution in his home county of Teleorman. But his problems with justice go as far back as to 2012, to the famous referendum on the impeachment of then president Traian Basescu. In 2016, the court found him guilty of having local Social Democratic leaders take people to polls illegally in order to make sure the referendum was validated, and gave him a 2-year suspended sentence.

Liviu Dragnea is not the only high-profile politician probed into for corruption. The High Court of Cassation and Justice is currently trying a case in which the Liberal leader Ludovic Orban is accused of having used his position to obtain undue benefits, more specifically 50,000 euros worth of funding for his local election campaign. The Supreme Court has heard the owners of two television networks, who said they had never talked to Orban about financing his election campaign. But while Dragnea is not the only one facing criminal charges, he does stand out in his insistence that mysterious forces keep framing him in order to destroy him, the party he chairs and the government he controls.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)