Romanian Senate approves DNA’s arrest request for ex Finance Min., but not for former Transport Min.

Romania’s Senate passed on Wednesday, March 25, the National Anticorruption Directorate - DNA’s request to arrest former Finance Minister Darius Valcov, currently probed in a corruption case. However, a similar request made by DNA for former Transport Minister Dan Sova didn’t get enough votes in the Senate. Both Valcov and Sova are members of Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s Social Democratic Party (PSD). The anticorruption prosecutors accused Darius Valcov of bribery and influence peddling while he was mayor of Slatina, a city in Southern Romania. The anticorruption prosecutors alleged Darius Valcov took EUR 2 million after helping a local businessman land a contract while he was the mayor of Slatina in 2009. DNA first questioned Valcov in this case at the middle of March. A few days after that, Valcov resigned as Finance Minister. On March 19, DNA made a request to the Senate to approve Valcov’s prosecution and arrest for corruption offenses while he was mayor of Slatina. On March 24, DNA made another request to the Senate to prosecute and detain Valcov for financial operations incompatible with his positions as senator and Finance Minister. The prosecutors found that Valcov stashed away some of his wealth in a safe deposited at a friend’s place in an Olt county village. Prosecutors found USD 90,000 in the safe, some RON 1.3 million (the equivalent of some EUR 300,000), three gold bars weighing 3 kilos, a Renoir painting, a Jean Cocteau painting, and a wooden piece by local author Aurel Acasandrei. Valcov allegedly obtained all these illegally, via bribes. Valcov, who turned 38 on Wednesday, appeared before the Senate and asked his colleagues to approve DNA’s request. He added that he wanted to prove his innocence in court and that he didn't want to resign as senator. The senators granted him the wish, as 97 of them voted in favour or DNA’s request and only 48 voted against it. The situation was different in the case of former Transport Minister Dan Sova, one of PM Victor Ponta’s friends. The DNA made a request to the Senate on March 13 to allow Dan Sova’s arrest. The prosecutors charged him with complicity to abuse of office. They have been investigating Sova in the past year for the contracts his law firm carried out with the Romanian energy companies Turceni and Rovinari between 2007 and 2009. Prosecutors recently said that Sova allegedly submitted several false documents to prove his innocence and that he also destroyed his law firm’s hard disks, in 2010, to hide the email correspondence between his law firm and the two energy companies’ management. Dan Sova, who turns 42 in April, also appeared before the Senate, but with a different speech than Valcov’s. He made several references to God and urged his colleagues to reject DNA’s request and to let him prove his innocence as a free man. And his was lucky to get his wish as 79 senators voted in favour of DNA’s request and 67 voted against it. He got away due to a technicality that said that at least half of all the senators, namely 85, should have voted for DNA’s request in order for it to pass. Both the vote for Valcov’s arrest and the one for Sova were secret. The National Liberal Party (PNL) asked for early elections after the vote in the Senate saying that the Senate’s vote undermined the Parliament’s credibility. Liberals said that PSD protected Sova because his arrest would lead to Ponta’s fall, referring to the fact that Victor Ponta worked with Sova’s law firm during the period when the investigated contracts were closed.