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Romanian Anticorruption Auth Arrests 18 In Corruption Case

The Romanian National Anticorruption Department (DNA) requested, Saturday, arrest warrants in the name of 18 people involved in the wide corruption scandal that includes employees from the Arges Driving License and Registrations Service, including the service chief, Codrut Gheorghe Vlasceanu.
14 iun. 2008, 17:50, English
Dozens of people were heard Friday and Saturday by prosecutors as the chief of the Driving License and Registrations Service in southern Romanian town Arges, Codrut Vlaşceanu, six police officers and 14 clerks were picked up by Pitesti authorities and brought to Bucharest at the DNA central headquarters.
After hearings and searches, DNA prosecutors requested the arrest of 18 people.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal announced that the DNA request and the hearing of pleas from lawyers are set for Saturday, at 17:00 local time.
The 18 are charged with forgery, influence peddling and bribery, as they allegedly requested sums of money ranging between EUR2,000 and EUR10,000 to issue driving licenses without having the beneficiaries come to the driving test, or to help the candidates during the written driving school test.
The defendants were organized in a pyramid crime group, handling large amounts of money. Sources said they had been monitored for some time now by anticorruption prosecutors and officers from the General Anticorruption Division.
Friday morning, searches were conducted, in parallel with searches at the headquarters of the institution, where computers and documents were seized.