Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi under attack by denigrators
Laura Codruta Kovesi has been the target of attacks by top figures involved in corruption cases.
Bogdan Matei, 06.10.2016, 13:49
In mid September, the Bucharest Tribunal decided to place under temporary arrest, for 30 days, the former Romanian Intelligence Officer Daniel Dragomir, accused of harassing the chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi, in the so-called ‘Black Cube’ case. A former senior employee of the General Directorate for Preventing and Combating Terrorism (DIICOT) with the Romanian Intelligence Office, Dragomir was last year indicted for influence peddling and money laundering.
According to the DIICOT, he subsequently resorted to the Israeli Security company ‘Black Cube’ to denigrate those whom he was blaming for his indictment. So far, three Israelis have been charged in this case, of whom two have been arrested, while the third managed to flee Romania, and is now internationally wanted. DIICOT claims that the three threatened Mrs. Kovesi on the phone and violated her electronic mailbox, illegally copying and transferring her correspondence.
A few days ago, several top political figures in Romania sparked a new scandal, accusing the head of the National Anticorruption Directorate of plagiarism. United by a strange form of fraternization, the former president Traian Basescu and deputy Sebastian Ghita, a former Social — Democrat turned member of the populist yet marginal United Romania Party, have supported each other’s allegations on the issue. A counterattack by criminal offenders, this is how the media supporting the anti-corruption campaign carried out by the National Anticorruption Directorate dubbed the move, saying that both Ghita and people very close to Basescu have been indicted. In turn, the chief-prosecutor has denounced the unprecedented attacks against the institution she is heading and against her colleagues, aimed at discrediting the activity of the National Anticorruption Directorate.
Laura Codruta Kovesi: “The attacks have been extremely aggressive lately. These are paid harassment campaigns, aimed at discrediting the National Anticorruption Directorate. The fact that these attacks have been perpetrated only by people that we are investigating, people accused of various felonies, stands proof of that. We are by no means intimidated, but obviously the goal of this campaign is to discredit us. I am sure that all these attacks of late, in which a lot of money has been invested, have been staged to this end, but our response is that we will continue our activity.”
According to Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis, Laura Codruta Kovesi does not have to resign for now, as there is no evidence that she plagiarized her doctoral thesis. President Iohannis has stated, though, that he has called on the chief-prosecutor to urgently clarify this matter.
(Translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)
