Romanian PM Sacks Two Police Officials Amid Corruption Scandal - Sources

The sources said Interior Minister Traian Igas submitted to Boc the propositions to replace Fatuloiu, head of the Interior Ministry's Department for Public Order and Safety, with Liviu Popa, head of the General Anticorruption Department, and Toba with Ioan Dascalu, attaché for domestic matters with the Romanian Embassy in the UK. Earlier Tuesday, Igas, Popa and Dascalu met at the Government's headquarters for talks on the matter.

The request to discharge Toba came in the wake of an incident in Piatra Neamt, northeastern Romania, involving underworld leaders Gheorghita and Bogdan Mararu and local police head Aurelian Soric. Fatuloiu went to Piatra Neamt soon after the scandal had broken out and proposed Igas to sack Soric for faulty management.

Fatuloiu, in turn, is tied to the most controversial and notorious top-level corruption scandal within the Romanian Interior Ministry. Fatuloiu, alongside his son Alexandru (administrator of six companies, e.n.), reported businessman Catalin Chelu to the National Anticorruption Department (DNA), arguing the latter tried to offer EUR1 million bribe in exchange for solving a series of cases in his favor.

DNA last week caught Chelu in the act of offering a EUR50,000 bribe to Fatuloiu. According to sources, Chelu had been trying for some time to bribe Fatuloiu. Chelu is reportedly in the attention of the Department for the Investigation of Organized Crimes and Terrorism (DIICOT) in three cases relating to money laundering, tax evasion and capital market crimes. Fatuloiu said there was more than one person offering bribe and told newspaper Gandul that the bribes consisted of "two homes, two cars and EUR50,000."

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