EC Report: Sanctions Applied After Romanian Integrity Agency Findings Rarely Dissuasive

The EC report, obtained by MEDIAFAX and which will be published Wednesday in Brussels, says that since the adoption of its new framework in August 2010, "the National Integrity Agency (ANI) has begun to re-establish its former track record and forwarded a number of cases regarding conflict of interest, incompatibilities and unjustified wealth for decision to the competent institutions."

"Although ANI has improved its methodology and the efficiency of its investigations, the follow-up by competent judicial and administrative bodies is often unsatisfactory," says the EC.

The document notes that "the Wealth Investigation Commission, established under the revised ANI law at the level of courts of appeal, de facto rules on merits of cases transmitted by ANI, although this is not part of their legal remit."

In the EC's opinion, "such a procedure not only delays the judicial decision-making process but also duplicates the role of the Courts of Appeal, which should be competent to rule on ANI cases."

"For this reason," says the report, "measures will need to be taken to avoid inconsistent practice by the Wealth Investigation Commission. There is a need for a further amendment to the law to allow ANI to appeal decisions of the Wealth Investigation Commission."

"Since the Commission's last annual assessment," the document notes, "only two cases of unjustified assets have been confirmed by courts of first instance. At the same time, a number of important cases investigated under the old law have been lost due to reaching statute-barred periods which were introduced in the revised law on ANI last August."

The report mentions that Romania has prepared an independent impact evaluation of its anti-corruption policy. "The recommendation contained therein put emphasis on giving high political priority to the fight against corruption, developing a comprehensive new anti-corruption strategy with long-term objectives and involving stakeholders from the three branches of power and civil society."

"The effectiveness of the fight against corruption is hindered by serious weaknesses in recovering the proceeds of crime. The track record of confiscated criminal assets in Romania is very low mainly due to limited confiscation possibilities provided by law, restrictive court practice and a lack of pro-active behaviour by the prosecution."

"Efforts are being made by the General Prosecutor to address the last point, but they are hindered by resourcing and in particular by the legal framework," says the EC report.

The document notes that in practice, criminal assets can only be confiscated "if they are the direct proceeds of crime for which a conviction had been achieved or when they are linked to damage caused by a proven criminal offence."

The EC adds that "problems are also encountered in confiscating assets passed on to third parties. In this way a substantial amount of criminal assets escapes legal scrutiny which has been illustrated recently in the case of large-scale corruption investigations among border police and customs, where only a relatively small sum of assets are expected to be confiscated although it can be assumed that these criminal activities have been carried out in a systematic way over a long period."

"Since the Commission's last assessment," says the report, "Romania took steps to provide for more effective verifications of public tenders against irregularities, following risk assessments. (…) Romania re-established the legal base for the Department for the Fight against Fraud (DLAF), the counterpart of OLAF, to carry out investigative actions. These improvements are welcome, but at the same time, administrative capacity and the quality of administrative action still require considerable improvements."

"The main challenge in the field of public procurement remains a substantial improvement in administrative capacity and in the quality of administrative action. Progress in these areas is urgently required in order to reduce the high rate of irregularities in the implementation of funds and to improve the absorption of EU funds which is at a very low level in several sectors," says the EC.

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