Romanian court sentences former finance minister to jail for graft
A Romanian court sentenced former finance minister Darius
Valcov to six-and-a-half years’ jail on Tuesday for taking a bribe and peddling
influence in awarding public works contracts in one of the European Union’s
most corrupt countries.
Valcov, 43, who had also been an economic adviser to cabinet
and authored many of the then ruling Social Democrat party’s controversial tax
cuts and price caps, has denied wrongdoing.
The verdict is not final, pending his appeal.
In 2018, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for
influence peddling and money laundering in a separate case, a preliminary
verdict also pending appeal.
Both cases concern graft in awarding public works contracts
while Valcov was serving as mayor of the southern Romanian town of Slatina
during 2004-2012, anti-corruption prosecutors said.
Prosecutors have secured a spate of convictions in recent
years against lawmakers, ministers and mayors, including former Social Democrat
leader Liviu Dragnea.
Their investigations across party lines have exposed
conflicts of interest, abuse of power, fraud and awarding of state contracts in
exchange for bribes.
Repeated attempts by the Social Democrats to decriminalise
some corruption offences, raise the burden of proof, and shorten sentences, up
until they lost a no confidence vote last year, alarmed Brussels and triggered
Romania’s largest street protests in decades.
The Transparency International watchdog ranked Romania and
Hungary as the joint most corrupt nations after Bulgaria last year in the
27-member EU. Brussels keeps Romania’s justice system under special monitoring.
Comments
Post a Comment