Former Road Police chief in Romanian county and 11 Police officers, sent to court for influence trading

The former chief of the Brasov Road Police and 11 of his employees were recently prosecuted for having offered ‘protection’ to businessmen and public clerks by failing to sanction them. Claudiu Tămîrjan, the former chief of the Brasov Road Police division, who was fired earlier this year and who is currently under arrest, has asked for several bribes in exchange for protection, including fire wood, drinks, meat and fish, according to anti-corruption prosecutors. He will be taken to court for influence trading, abuse of office, as well as use of confidential information. A group of 11 Police officers across the Brasov county are also prosecuted, but without being arrested. Prosecutors will also send to court three businessman who are accused of buying influence. The crime ring led by Tămîrjan was active between October and December 2013. The businessman who benefited from protection called the chief of the Road Police whenever one of the Police officers in the county were about to sanction them for failing to respect the road legislation. The chief would then intervene by directly contacting the Police officers and sending over an agreed code by phone, apparently with no connection to the businessman and the offence. In some cases, after these interventions, Police officers registered minor offences, such not wearing the seat belt, instead of giving harsher punishments for other offences they had found. The corruption file was sent to the Brasov court, with Tămârjan under arrest since June 25, 2014, when he was also fired from the helm of the Brasov Road Police. editor@romania-insider.com (photo credits: Romania-Insider.com)