Former communist prosecutor remains Romanian with highest public pension

Gheorghe Bălăşoiu, former communist prosecutor and head of the Colibaşi penitentiary, is the recipient of the largest pension in Romania: RON 73,890, or over EUR 15,000 euros a month, the Labor Ministry informed, responding to the request from liberal MP Florin Roman.

His pension falls into the category of “special pensions”, meaning it is not calculated based on his contribution but rather by arbitrary formulas, frequently changed, based on the wage and other benefits in the last working month.

According to calculations of local daily newspaper Adevărul, in June, the state paid some RON 88.3 million (EUR 18.6 mln) on top of the regular pensions (based on their contributions) deserved by the recipients of special pensions.

The categories entitled to special (service) pension are advisors and external auditors of the Court of Accounts, judges and prosecutors, specialized auxiliary personnel in courts and prosecutor’s offices, civil servants working for the Parliament, civil aeronautical staff and members of the diplomatic body. Employees of the Interior and Defence Ministries also benefit from special pension systems financed from the budgets of the respective ministries.

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