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Prosecutors launch criminal investigation against Romanian PM
Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta holds hands with his wife Daciana Sarbu during a proposed presidential TV debate in Bucharest, November 13, 2014. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel
By Radu-Sorin Marinas and Matthias Williams
05/06/2015
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors said on Friday they had launched a criminal investigation against Prime Minister Victor Ponta, naming him as a suspect in crimes including forgery, money-laundering, conflict of interest and tax evasion.
Prosecutors have made a series of high-profile arrests in recent months in what remains one of the poorest and most graft-addled countries in the European Union. The anti-corruption agency is known locally as the DNA.
A former prosecutor who took office in 2012, Ponta faces general election late next year and his government is currently pushing a series of disputed tax cuts through parliament. He has survived several scandals but was bruised after a surprise defeat at the presidential election in November.
The shock announcement of the investigation came shortly before the opposition filed a no-confidence vote against Ponta's left-leaning government. Although having lost allies in the wake of his presidential defeat in November, Ponta still commands an overall majority in parliament.
The inquiry into Ponta mainly concerns his time as a lawyer and accuses him of colluding with Dan Sova, a former transport minister in Ponta's cabinet who had already previously been under investigation for corruption.
A separate investigation, announced by the DNA on Friday, targets suspected conflict of interest by Ponta during his time as prime minister.
"I came to the DNA like a normal person," Ponta told reporters after he emerged from the anti-corruption agency's headquarters in Bucharest on Friday morning. "I didn't give them any statement." Asked whether he would resign, he said: "At the DNA, we don't do politics."
Local media showed Ponta's official car speeding towards the presidential palace after the investigation was announced.
Ponta's finance minister resigned in March after corruption cases were launched against him, while his father-in-law and other senior lawmakers are also under investigation.
A senior former cabinet minister, Liviu Dragnea, was convicted in May of electoral fraud over a 2012 attempt by Ponta's party to impeach the former president.
Adrian Nastase, Ponta's mentor and a former prime minister, has served time in prison for corruption.
Romania's currency, the leu, was down nearly 0.2 percent at 0937 GMT on Friday.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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