Romania’s governing Social Democrats have gone into a frenzy since Laura Codruta Kovesi, the ousted former chief prosecutor of the National Anti-corruption Directorate, the DNA, was put on the short list for the new post of head of the European Chief Prosecutor’s Office, EPPO.
Kovesi has been the subject of outrage and controversy in Romania since Justice Minister Tudorel Toader went out of his way to oust her last year – and forced a reluctant President Klaus Iohannis into signing off her removal.
When Kovesi’s candidacy and short-listing for the European Chief Prosecutor’s post was announced, Toader announced that Romania would not support her candidacy.
He even accused EU officials of being “misinformed” and unaware of the abuses she had committed in Romania.
He also told the European Parliament that it was not him that had revoked Kovesi but the President – which is only technically correct; he lacked the power to make that decision.
After Kovesi’s candidacy drew much support throughout the EU, with France and Germany stating that they might pull their candidates from the race, the PSD stepped up its efforts.
Justice Minister of Romania, Tudorel Toader speaks during a press conference at the end of the second day of the EU Internal Affairs and Justice Ministers informal meeting, at the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, Romania, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/ROBERT
Through one of its MEPs, Emilian Pavel, it emailed allegations to all MEPs about Kovesi in the hope of containing the support she had gathered.
The email claimed she would employ the same allegedly abusive methods in her new post as she had done in Romania.
The domestic drama peaked last Friday when Kovesi was subpoenaed before the Department for the Investigation of Criminal Offences in the Judiciary.
This is a new government agency dealing with corruption amongst the judiciary, and is widely regarded as a tool to control the magistracy.
The subpoena came on the same day that Kovesi was supposed to depart for Brussels for her interview.
It followed a complaint from a fugitive media tycoon and former MP, Sebastian Ghita, who, following his conviction for corruption, had fled to Serbia and obtained asylum.
At the hearing, Kovesi was informed that she was a suspect in a criminal investigation for abuse of office, bribery and untrue testimony.
The allegation is that she took a bribe from Ghita in the form of covering transport costs to extradite a businessman convicted of embezzlement in another case, Nicolae Popa, from Indonesia.
The initial investigations in this case had been closed, and the main body that had managed the extradition, the police, declared that it had covered the costs. The file was now being re-opened after Ghita had issued a complaint from Serbia, since being convicted.
Kovesi called the investigation “political retribution”. She also noted ironically that, “it must be a coincidence that I received this subpoena exactly on the day I was supposed to leave for Brussels”.
Read more The Balkaninsight
