Former Romanian Interior Minister may lose his immunity and face prosecution

The Romanian Senate's Judiciary Committee has approved on Tuesday the National Anticorruption Department - DNA’s request to start the criminal proceedings against former Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea. The prosecutors have been investigating Oprea, who is also a Senator, for abuse of office. Gabriel Oprea has pleaded not guilty in front of the Judiciary Committee. The members of the Committee approved DNA’s request with nine votes for and one against. The decision is only advisory, however, and the Senate will have the final vote on whether to lift the Senator’s immunity or not. According to parliamentary sources cited by local Mediafax, the Senate could cast its vote on Wednesday. The prosecutors accuse Oprea of illegally using the motorcade in the period when he was a minister (between January 2014 and November 2015). The law states that only the President, the Prime Minister, and the presidents of the Parliament’s two chambers can use motorcades to facilitate their move through traffic while the ministers can only do so in the case of emergency. However, it seems that Oprea used the motorcade 1,607 times between January 2 and October 21, 2015. Gabriel Oprea came under public scrutiny after a motorcycle policeman died while on a mission in Bucharest, as he fell into an open pit in the road. The accident occurred while the policeman was part of Oprea’s motorcade on a dark and rainy evening in October last year. Romanian anticorruption prosecutors want to investigate former Interior Minister for abuse of office. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com