[size=75:3ppccuj1]Focus 4 April 2010

Balkan politicians arrested on suspicion of corruption

ROMANIA AND Bulgaria have launched legal action against prominent politicians in the wake of a damning European Union report on their efforts to fight corruption.
Both Balkan states have been under pressure from Brussels to crack down on corruption since they joined the EU in 2007, but the latest progress report from the European Commission demanded tougher action against senior officials and deeper judicial reform.
The day after the EU issued its report, Romania’s parliament for the first time endorsed the detention of a senator on corruption charges, after he was accused of taking bribes of more than €250,000 from businessmen who wanted him to influence the decision of police and high court magistrates.
Catalin Voicu, a senator for the opposition Social Democrats, denies the charges. After parliament stripped him of his immunity from prosecution, Romania’s high court ruled this week that police could arrest him.
Neighbouring Bulgaria also responded swiftly to the EU’s complaints, amid fears that failure to act could jeopardise €11 billion of aid that Sofia is due to receive from Brussels by 2013.
Less than a week after the release of the EU’s March 23rd report, six Bulgarians were jailed for stealing and laundering €7.5 million in farm funding from the bloc.
On the day of their conviction, Bulgaria’s government announced that prosecutors were investigating ex-ministers and other senior officials over suspected abuse of power in signing contracts worth more than €1 billion.
The announcement was followed by the resignation of the country’s health minister Bozhidar Nanev, after he was accused of costing Bulgaria more than €1 million by paying too much for a swine flu vaccine.
Mr Nanev – who is the first serving minister to be indicted for corruption since communism collapsed in Bulgaria in 1989 – denies the allegations.
This week, Bulgarian police arrested a judge and a former senior finance ministry official on suspicion of trying to use bribery to influence the case against ex-defence minister Nikolai Tsonev.
Mr Tsonev is accused of abuse of power over military equipment deals that prosecutors believe defrauded Bulgaria of more than €6.5 million.
Magistrates are also investigating his possible involvement in other deals that swindled Bulgaria out of some €60 million.
Analysts say that only the imprisonment of powerful politicians and mafia bosses will prove that the countries’ leaders are serious about fighting organised crime and corruption.