National Integrity Agency passes Senate voting

The National Integrity Agency (ANI) bill passed the Senate voting yesterday and remained unchanged compared to the version which was cleared by the Chamber of Deputies last week. The law had to be re-examined following a Constitutional Court ruling. The bill needs to be signed by Romanian president Traian Basescu. It includes the mandatory declaration of assets and interests by trade union leaders. The current form of the ANI law reintroduced several provisions, including the three-year deadline by which the agency can check the wealth of MPs after they finish their public mandate. The Romanian Parliament had previously amended the ANI law, but the new law gives the agency fewer powers, after being challenged by Romanian president Traian Basescu. The European Commission has said in a recent report that the revised law is a serious step back in the fight against corruption. ANI is an anticorruption body which looks into the wealth of public officials and can prosecute them for illegal gains.

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