Justice Minister Robert Cazanciuc (photo) on Friday made an appeal to all prosecutors who believe they have the necessary experience, integrity and maturity to register in the selection for the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) head. The office is vacant since November 2014, when the ex-head of the institution, Alina Bica, was placed under arrest for corruption deeds with damages worth of millions of euro.
“It is an open procedure, each prosecutor stands a chance. The registrations conclude on March 16. (…) It is a procedure strictly based on the legislation in force. (…) Since all prosecutors have the opportunity to register, I believe it is very transparent. All prosecutors observing the law are invited to register, there is no one previously designated. This is my appeal, that all those who believe they have the experience, maturity and integrity to be able to run such a structure register. The criteria are strictly provided by law,” Cazanciuc said, before presentation of the DIICOT activity in 2014.
The presentation of the activity report of the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea, Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) head Eduard Hellvig, Prosecutor General Tiberiu Nitu, Deputy Prosecutor-in-chief of the National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) Marius Iacob and Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) members.
A special Agency to recover damages is needed
The problem in recovering the damages as a result of the final decisions of the courts of law is “firstly” at the National Agency for Tax Administration (ANAF), on Friday said the Justice minister, Robert Cazanciuc at the end of the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) annual report meeting.
Therefore, he reiterated the need of founding a specialised agency to recover the said damages.
“The head of the French agency will come to Bucharest next week to assist us in the process of fathering a new agency. Problem is first of all at the ANAF, it is a matter that regards the structure of the way the ANAF capitalises the goods. Which is why, a new specialised agency is an utmost, as it happens in the Netherlands, in Belgium and in particular in France, where such efficient structures do exist. We have drafted for some time the principles of the new law, we wish to discuss them with the justices, the prosecutors and next week to shape a normative act draft to be subdued to the public debate,” minister Cazanciuc said.
Experts with the US Marshal Service will support the Justice Ministry in the process of making this agency operational
As regards the economy, the organised crime is a real danger, on Friday said the Justice minister, Robert Cazanciuc, talking about the topics approached lately in the public space.
“I’ve congratulated the prosecutors with the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) for their outcomes, firstly. I wanted to thank them very much for the implication in implementing the new criminal codes with no syncope.It was a huge effort of the DIICOT prosecutors and of the entire system, too (…) Lately, we discuss less in the public space about what the organised crime means, and in particular in economy, it represents a real danger for the Romanian economy, for the entire society,” Cazanciuc said at the end of the DIICOT meeting on its activity report on 2014.
Referring to drugs and the drug trafficking, the minister said prevention actions are needed amongst the youth as regards this topic, “encouraging” the DIICOT prosecutors to perform such actions in schools.
When being asked about the reasons why such a structure was so much belated, minister Cazanciuc referred to the “political will.”
Cazanciuc assured that by end-March a blueprint regarding the functioning of this structure for the damages’ recovery will get shape. At the same time, he added, in the next period experts with the US Marshal Service will support the Justice Ministry in the process of making this agency operational.
