March 1, 2012

PRESS RELEASE

The Public Information and Press Relations Bureau within the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is authorized to bring to public knowledge the following:

Prosecutors from the Criminal Investigations and Criminalistics Section of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, together with judicial police officers from the General Anticorruption Department within the Ministry of the Administration and the Interior, and with the technical and intelligence support of the Romanian Intelligence Service performed, on February 29 and today, March 1, 2012, home searches in several locations in Bucharest and the surrounding areas, namely the towns of Chitila, Otopeni, and in the Teleorman County. 36 persons are investigated in this case for trading in influence, active bribery, passive bribery, receipt of undue advantages, and direct and indirect use of information not meant for public release, for the purpose of obtaining undue advantages for oneself or for someone else. Searches have been carried out in 32 locations.

The information gathered in this case has revealed that, in order to evade the legal provisions, the Romanian and Moldovan middlepersons developed a method to obtain Romanian citizenship, passports and a residence visa for Romania (mainly in Bucharest) for various Moldovan citizens, in exchange for various amounts of money, between 500 and 1,000 euros, or other “”tokens of appreciation”.

Up to now, prosecutors have issued 24-hour preventive custody orders for 3 persons and have forbidden other 2 persons to leave the locality.

At present, hearings are being held by prosecutors from the Criminal Investigations and Criminalistics Section of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. The hearings will continue throughout the day and over 50 persons involved in this case will be heard.

The Romanian judicial authorities collaborated in this case with the law enforcement bodies in the Republic of Moldova and benefited from substantial support from the Ministry of Justice in Romania and the management of the National Citizenship Authority.

We will keep the public opinion informed with the progress of the investigation.