Romanian deputy prime minister announces resignation after bribery scandal

Deputy prime minister Dragoș Anastasiu announced his resignation from office on Sunday, July 27, after it was revealed that he was a witness in an older corruption case involving one of his companies. The company, Eurolines, paid bribes for eight years to a financial inspector from Romania’s tax agency ANAF.

The former official said he can no longer accept “being slandered and discrediting the image of the Romanian government.”

“No matter what I say or do, the process of slander will continue, based on some facts, but taken to the extreme. This is the reason why, after discussing with the prime minister, I told him that I would do more harm than good, and that it is time to step aside, step back, however you want to call it, and resign,” said Anastasiu in the press conference, cited by Agerpres.

The former deputy prime minister had become the face of a reform process meant to optimize the Romanian state apparatus and reduce public expenditures.

“My departure from the Romanian government does not mean that reforms must not go forward. We have made important steps in preparing a broad reform package, across seven pillars, from tax fraud to Romania’s image, human resources, simplification, digitization, and administrative-territorial reform,” Anastasiu explained.

Anastasiu made a public appeal to the prime minister “to personally take over the working group" charged with reforming state-owned companies. He also encouraged business organizations to continue assisting the state in reforming itself.

Finally, the embattled official also made a last-ditch defense in his own case. He said that while his company paid bribes, it never committed tax evasion. “There are two types of bribes, survival bribes and enrichment bribes.” The first were paid out by businessmen in the ‘90s and 2000s to keep their businesses going, not to enrich themselves, he said.

Anastasiu’s resignation was welcomed by leaders of the ruling coalition.

USR President Dominic Fritz stated that it was “an act of normality, dignity, and accountability” that strengthens the government’s ongoing reforms. “We are preparing the reform of state-owned companies, and painful measures are coming against privileges and clientelism. The fight we are waging is not just for show. It is real and is met with proportional resistance,” Fritz wrote on Facebook.