“Finally, progress seems very limited in the prevention and sanctioning of corruption related to public procurement. The advances made against high-level corruption have not been matched in public procurement. Cases seem to take a long time, partly due the need for specific financial expertise, leading to the particular problem of contracts concluded before court judgment on the offence. The penalties for officials involved in fraudulent public procurement cases continue to be very low and the law does not foresee a possibility of a cancellation on the grounds of conflict of interest of projects that have already been executed. There are also major doubts on the effectiveness of prosecution handling of these cases,” reads the report.
The National Anticorruption Department, or DNA, has continued to investigate and bring forward corruption cases successfully.
The number of final convictions issued based on DNA investigations has doubled in 2012 in comparison with the previous year and concerned politicians of all main political parties, reads the report.
“There has also been a constant increase in indictment and conviction in EU fraud cases led by DNA,” the Commission noted.
“The CVM also requires strong efforts to tackle corruption at all levels of Romanian society. Surveys consistently show high levels of public concern about the prevalence of corruption.20 In this context, the July report welcomed the National Anticorruption Strategy. There have been some important steps taken by some departments, and the participation of local authorities seems to progress21. The Ministry of Justice has put in place structures to help make this work, which seem to be taken the process forward in spite of their small numbers.”
According to the Commission, a number of anticorruption projects are financed with EU funds and their implementation in underway.
Another important issue is the prosecution of money laundering and confiscation. “The new legal framework on extended confiscation was put in place in 2012, but it is too early to yet assess its effectiveness.”