Politicians and corruption scandals

New corruption scandals are shaking the political class in Bucharest, less than two months before elections

Bogdan Matei, 17.10.2024, 14:00

Press reports and prosecutor investigations are brushing the lists of politicians with whom the Romanian political parties want to attend the upcoming Parliamentary elections, due on December 1 in Romania.

Last week, Social-Democrat Laura Vicol stepped down from her position of chair of the Legal Committee of the Chambers of Deputies. Her resignation comes amid an investigation released by media platform Recorder over the real estate scandal Nordis, which wouldn’t be anything but a scam of gigantic proportions.

The report delves into the “business of a political-real-estate clan with connections at the highest level”, whose main associate is Laura Vicol’s husband, Vladimir Ciorbă.

The woman eventually stepped down from the ruling Social Democratic Party as well but only after lashing out at the media and its ways of destroying innocent people.

Next it was the turn of the National Liberal Party, part of the same ruling coalition in Romania, to face a corruption scandal after the Chamber of Deputies had green-lighted an investigation by the anti-corruption prosecutors into the bribery allegations concerning the former Health Minister, Nelu Tătaru.

The man has protested his innocence, saying that he never accepted money from patients and that he wants justice to be made. That, however, failed to impress the prosecutors who have presented evidence for continued bribery.

The press is being entertained by this case, in which a reputed surgeon and respected minister used to accept not only money from patients but also living poultry.

Tataru held the seat of the Health Ministry during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The National Liberal Party has decided to strip Tataru of all his political prerogatives writing him off as a potential candidate in the upcoming election.

Also last week, senator Eugen Pîrvulescu was placed under criminal investigation for influence peddling, which also involved the former director of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (OSIM), Marian-Cătălin Burcescu.

Unlike Tătaru, Pîrvulescu is not a hot potato for the Liberals. Elected four years ago on a PNL ticket he remained unknown until the aforementioned corruption scandal. He had left the party to join the campaign team of the allegedly independent candidate Mircea Geoană – formerly known as a long-lasting PSD leader.  

(bill)