Romanian MP caught red-handed while taking EUR 700 bribe

A Romanian MP was caught red handed while taking a bribe of some EUR 700 to allegedly help managers of a local health and food safety institution keep their politically won seats.

Gheorghe Coman, currently an MP from the Conservative Party, and head of the PC organization for Buzau county, allegedly asked for money and other benefits from an unnamed managed of the Buzau Health and Food Safety institution, in order to help him keep his job. The local manager turned informant and, together with the anti-corruption authorities, organized a bust on December 18.

In three hour hearing by the anti-corruption authorities, the MP was accused of trading influence. However, after the hearings, he said he did not think the Parliament would lift his immunity.

EU worried about changes to Romania’s Criminal Code shielding elected officials from corruption prosecution

Changes to Romania’s Criminal Code which “shield” elected Romanian politicians from corruption prosecution, have raised eyebrows in the European Union, with the EU commissioner for Justice expressing concern.
According to the EU Observer, EU commissioner for justice Viviane Reding on Monday told MEPs in the parliament’s civil liberties committee that the changes to the code, which have triggered protests in Bucharest, would be dealt with in January.
“We are very worried in the way things are developing in the bad direction in the anti-corruption front,” said Reding, quoted by the site.
Adopted on the same day as major mining legislation passed through the Parliament, the under-the-table changes to the Criminal Code shield elected officials from corruption prosecution while also re-criminalising defamation.
President Traian Basescu has signaled that he won’t approve the changes.
Through their embassies, several countries including Great Britain, France, the United States and the Netherlands have expressed their disapproval of the measures.
Activities are calling for the lawmakers who drafted the bill to be revealed.

Romania: 75 Officials Are Charged

Romanian prosecutors on Monday charged the deputy prime minister and 74 local officials with falsifying voter data in a referendum that failed to unseat President Traian Basescu. Most of those who voted in the national referendum chose to impeach Mr. Basescu, but the vote was declared invalid because less than half the electorate took part. The deputy prime minister, Liviu Dragnea, is accused of using his influence as chairman of a local council to increase the recorded number of votes, making the July 2012 referendum valid in his area. The 74 others in the case are accused, among other things, of “stuffing ballots for voters who had not voted and of signing for those people.”