Prosecutors who offer bribe should be arrested. Those who receive it may stay at large. At least this is the signal sent on Tuesday by the Superior Magistrature Council (CSM), much to the despair of Prosecutor General Laura Codruta Kovesi. An if some may think this is a typical gesture for Romania... well, they are wrong. What is typical is the Transport Ministry, where over 100 kilometers of highways got lost in the paperwork.
The prosecutors in the National Anti-Graft Prosecution Office (DNA) attempted on Tuesday to detain three of the "corrupt prosecutors network" members, in the case of bribe offered to gain a chief-prosecutor seat. They were successful only in the case of the prosecutor who offered the 15,000 euro bribe, Dumitru Gheorghe, and the notary who made the transaction, Gheorghe Bucur, former CSM member. The prosecutor accused of receiving the bribe, Eugen Cojocaru, could not be placed under arrest because the CSM prosecutors didn't approve it, Evenimentul Zilei informs. Already, the Prosecutor General, Laura Codruta Kovesi, accused the CSM members of attempting to block the investigation.
Of course, this is just one of the everyday problems Romania faces. One might say that an even more peculiar situation may be found in the Transport Ministry. According to Gandul, the Ministry has received "on paper" 455 kilometers of highway in Romania. The fact is that, regardless how one adds, there are only 317 kilometers. A ministry official dug into the files and found out that the 455 kilometers were representing what Romania committed to the EU to build before the end of 2007, not what was truly accomplished. Not much fuss, just another forgotten promise.
International institutions have anyway other things to worry about. For example, the International Monetary Fund worries about the high inflation rate in Romania, Jurnalul
