US Department of State, about Romania in 2015: “Corruption was widespread in public procurement. Bribery was common in the public sector”

Analysts at the US state department warn that corruption remains widespread in Romania, although investigations by the National Anticorruption Direction continued at “steady pace” throughout 2015, according to the latest human rights report by the American institution.

“Conflicts of interest, disrespect for standards of ethical conduct, and improbity in public office in general remained problems in all three branches of government. Corruption was widespread in public procurement. Bribery was common in the public sector, especially in health care. Individual executive agencies were slow in enforcing sanctions, and agencies’ own inspection bodies were generally inactive,” said the report.

The experts point out that not all the DNA requests for pretrial detention in the case of MPs were approved in parliament.

The report further states that the tax administration agency ANAF doesn’t have enough resources to confiscate and liquidate assets acquired from criminals.

“Preseizure planning between police, prosecutors, and ANAF and parallel investigations–investigating the financial situation of a suspect simultaneously with the criminal investigation–did not occur in either cases of corruption or organized crime. In November the government enacted legislation to establish a new asset management agency, which had not been set up by year’s end”, said the state department.

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Ovidiu Posirca