Yesterday, president Traian Basescu together with the leaders of the political parties, decided to subordinate the NAD (National Anticorruption Department) chief-prosecutor, Daniel Morar, to the general prosecutor, Ilie Botos. The National Anticorruption Department becomes the National Anticorruption Office, and the NAO decree will be sent to the Parliament with these modifications.
Yesterday afternoon, the decree regarding the NAO functioning got to the Parliament again after it had been rejected and modified by the President. After an hour-and-a-half-long meeting between the President and the leaders of the parliamentary parties, the National Anticorruption Department became the National Anticorruption Office. There might not be much difference in the name, but it means the loss of the independence of the NAO. According to yesterdayâs agreement, the NAO will be included in the General Prosecutorâs Office, and the chief-prosecutor of the NAO will be subordinated to the general prosecutor, but not coordinated by him, as it had been until now. In the same time, NAO loses its position as main credit commander by becoming a secondary one with precise budget mentioned in the budget of the Prosecutorâs Office of the High Court of Justice and Cassation.
CAUTION. According to the President, the changes in the NAO decree target the elimination of all the suspicions regarding its unconstitutionality, taking into account the terms of the 72nd Article in the Constitution, according to which the Parliament Members can be investigated and sentenced by the Prosecutorâs Office only. This way, by avoiding a complaint of the Opposition at the Constitutional Court, Basescu hopes to have a quick voting procedure in the Parliament in such a way that the law for the approval of the decree would appear in the Official Gazette by the 6th of March.
INDEPENDENCE. Ba
