text: Corruption Being Tamed? Report of the DNA Romania – Prosecutions during 2014 | Honorary Consulate of Romania in Boston, Honorary, Consulate, Romania. Boston
  ” Chief Prosecutor of the National Anti-corruption Directorate (‘DNA’) Laura Codruta Kovesi said on unveiling the body’s 2014 results on Tuesday that last year saw a range of firsts since the DNA was set up, namely the highest number of recorded and settled cases, the highest number of indictments and sentences as well as the highest number of high-ranking officials that were probed into.
  ” As many as 86 prosecutors who conducted prosecution activities in 2014 had to resolve more than 9,100 cases, the highest such number since the DNA was set up. On average, a prosecutor carried out the prosecution of nearly 105 cases, an impressive volume given the complexity of the files that Directorate is tasked with. The number of the indictments increased significantly in 2014, with 317 indictments having been drawn up, which shows the prosecutors’ concern to chiefly solve the cases having judicial finality. The statistic figures confirm the efficiency of the DNA activity as well as the fact that the investigatory resources are being channelled towards the causes with judicial finality’, the anti-corruption body’s chief said.
  “According to Kovesi, more than 1,100 defendants were prosecuted last year and the number of the legal persons that were prosecuted doubled. Euro 300 million seized.”
  Romania’s justice system seems to have woken up in recent months, sending important local politicians and business people behind bars.
  Some of them are already serving their sentences while others are placed under preventive arrest, and are investigated in one or more cases of corruption, tax evasion or money laundering.
  Former Youth and Sports Minister Monica Iacob Ridzi was sentenced to five years in prison in early-February this year, for abuse of office. The five judges who made the decision in this case found Ridzi guilty of abuse of office related to the organizing of the Youth Days (Zilele Tineretului) festivities, in 2009. Read more about this case here.
  Former Transport Minister Miron Mitrea was also sentenced to prison recently, for corruption. Romania’s High Court of Cassation and Justice ruled two years in jail for Mitrea and the decision is final. Click here to read more about the case.
  In January this year, the High Court of Cassation and Justice sentenced former Economy Minister Codrut Seres to four years and eight months in prison, in a case of economic espionage. The court ruled jail sentences totaling 44 years in this case, no parole, for ten former ministers, state secretaries and private consultants. More about it here.
  Former Romanian Transport Minister Relu Fenechiu currently serves time after the court sentenced him to five years in jail, no parole, in a case nicknamed “Transformatorul”. More about the case here.
  Former Communication Minister Sorin Pantis was convicted in two separate cases. Last summer, the court sentenced Pantis to seven years in jail in the privatization of the Institute of Food Research. Later the same year, the Bucharest Appeal Court sentenced him to two years and eight months in prison in the Rompetrol case. Romanian journalist and senator Sorin Rosca Stanescu also got two years and four months in this case. More about the Rompetrol case here.
  In 2012, former Agriculture Minister Ioan Avram Muresan was sentenced to seven years in prison, no parole, for embezzlement. One year later, in 2013, he got another jail sentence, of three years, for trading influence. Decebal Traian Remes, another former Romanian Agriculture, also got three years in jail in this case.
  Romanian businessman George Copos, the former owner of Rapid football club and owner of several hotels across Romania, was convicted to three years and eight months in prison, without parole, in a case involving transfer of football players. Several other football bosses received jail sentences in this case, such as Cristi Borcea – former owner of Dinamo football club, Mihai Stoica – general manager of FC Steaua Bucuresti, Ioan and Victor Becali, former football star Gica Popescu, Gigi Netoiu and Jean Padureanu. Read more about this case here. In 2014, Copos was sentenced to another 4 years in jail, no parole, in a tax evasion case nicknamed Loteria 1. More about it here.