EC Report: Romania Should Improve Cooperation Btw Integrity Agency And Other Judicial Authorities

The European Commission recommends Romania should „demonstrate a track record in prompt and dissuasive sanctions taken by administrative and judicial authorities regarding incompatibilities, conflicts of interest and the confiscation of unjustified assets in follow-up to the findings of the National Integrity Agency (ANI).”

ANI should improve its investigative capacity through upgrades to the information system and through targeted risk assessments, reads the report.

The EC said that few sanctions have been applied as a result of ANI’s findings and points out that the sanctions applied are rarely dissuasive.

The Commission notes in a footnote that although courts confirmed 82 incompatibility situations, disciplinary commissions applied sanctions in only 14 cases, of which five were dismissals and five merely warnings.

The EC also notes that since the adoption of its new legal framework in August 2010, ANI has begun to register results and referred a number of cases regarding conflict of interest, incompatibilities and unjustified wealth to the competent institutions for decisions.

„Although ANI has improved its methodology and the efficiency of its investigations, the follow-up by competent judicial and administrative bodies should be significantly improved,” reads the report.

The EC also highlights that most court decisions regarding conflict of interest in the public procurement area „generally come too late.”

„It appears that the Wealth Investigation Commissions established under the revised ANI law at the level of courts of appeal de facto rule on merits of cases transmitted by ANI to the same evidential standard as the trial court,” according to the report.

The EC believes that such a procedure delays the decision-making process and duplicates the role of the Courts of Appeal, which should be competent to rule on ANI cases.

The Commission recommends Romania should therefore take measures to avoid inconsistent practice by the wealth investigation commissions and allow ANI to appeal the decisions of these commissions.