ROMANIA is on the front line of the European Union’s battle against corruption. Rankings put the country alongside Bulgaria as the most corrupt in the EU. But its National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) has made strides, convicting over a thousand officials in 2014. On June 5th the DNA announced its biggest case yet, charging the prime minister, Victor Ponta, with forgery and conflict of interest. It may have gone too far: his Social Democratic Party (PSD) is trying to pass laws that could save Mr Ponta from prosecution, at the cost of crippling the fight against corruption.
Mr Ponta has cultivated an image as a pro-European reformer even while exploiting Romania’s back-scratching political culture. The DNA says that in 2007-08, as a lawyer in private practice, he received unexplained consulting fees of up to $3,000 a month from another lawyer, Dan Sova. In 2011, after Mr Ponta joined the government, the two men allegedly forged documents showing he had worked on legal cases to earn the money. After he became prime minister in 2012, Mr Ponta appointed Mr Sova to his cabinet. (Mr Sova resigned last year ahead of another corruption probe.)
Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, who defeated Mr Ponta in last year’s presidential election on an anti-corruption platform, wants the prime minister to step down. Mr Ponta, who denies the charges, refuses to go...
from The Economist: Europe http://ift.tt/1e5IplX
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