Romanian PM Asks Lower Chamber Legal Committee To Restore Integrity Agency Bill

Boc said a public wealth statement, leaving out personal information such as addresses, should meet the requirements of the Constitutional Court, EU Mechanism for Verification and Cooperation, and of Romanian citizens.

Boc also said the Integrity Agency should be allowed to examine the wealth of a former public servant within three years of the person leaving office. He argued that the one year limit, stipulated by the bill in its current form, is insufficient for a thorough investigation.

The prime minister added that the Government’s position is the wealth and interest statements should be available online for the duration of a public servant’s term and for three more years after leaving office.

Boc attended the meeting of the Chamber of Deputies Committee for legal matters on Tuesday.

On July 19, the Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional the revised version of the law regulating the activity of the ANI law, after President Traian Basescu challenged the revised normative act’s constitutionality. In his contestation, Basescu cited breaches of certain constitutional provisions regarding law adoption procedures and the powers of the two chambers of the Parliament.

Romania’s Parliament had amended the law regulating the country’s integrity agency, a EU-required anticorruption body that screened public officials’ wealth and recommended prosecution for alleged illicit gains in a move to tackle endemic corruption, after the country’s Constitution Court found the initial law unconstitutional. The new law, however, considerably weakened the agency’s powers and the European Commission said in its monitoring report the revised law was a significant step back in the country’s fight against corruption.