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Romanian prime minister faces calls to step down over corruption allegations Romanian PM faces calls to step down over corruption allegations
(about 14 hours later)
Romania’s president has urged the prime minister, Victor Ponta, to resign over corruption allegations including tax evasion and money-laundering. Romania’s prime minister is under pressure to resign after being indicted for forgery, tax evasion, and money laundering as part of a far-reaching anti-corruption drive by state prosecutors.
Ponta, who was named as a suspect by prosecutors on Friday in crimes including forgery, money-laundering, conflict of interest and tax evasion, said he would not resign, and that only parliament could dismiss him. Victor Ponta, who has been prime minister since 2012, has refused to resign, saying only parliament could dismiss him, but the president, Klaus Iohannis, called for him to step down yesterday. Iohannis, who beat Ponta in presidential elections in November, said it was “an impossible situation for Romania”.
But, after meeting Ponta on Friday, President Klaus Iohannis said it was “an impossible situation for Romania”. The prime minister had met earlier with the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, which has launched a criminal investigation against him. Parliament is due to vote next week on whether or not to lift Ponta’s immunity from prosecution. If it votes to shield him, political observers predict it will trigger a constitutional crisis, pitting prime minister and parliament against the president and the judiciary.
Prosecutors have made a series of high-profile arrests in recent months in what remains one of the poorest and most graft-addled countries in the European Union. Ponta was called in to the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) in Bucharest yesterday, to be presented with an extensive charge sheet. He is accused of filing forged invoices for a total of $45,000 for work he did not do in 2007 and 2008, when he was a lawyer.
“I came to the [anti-corruption agency] DNA like a normal person,” Ponta told reporters. “I didn’t give them any statement.” Asked whether he would resign, he said: “At the DNA, we don’t do politics.” The DNA statement also said that an investigation would continue into alleged conflict of interest during Ponta’s term as prime minister, for making his closest business associate a minister. The DNA said there was “reasonable suspicion” of wrongdoing and said it would ask parliament to approve a criminal investigation into Ponti on those charges.
The allegations relate to Ponta’s work as a lawyer from 2007 to 2008 when he was also a lawmaker for the Social Democratic party. The prime minister is the most prominent suspect to be identified as Romania’s anti-corruption drive has intensified in recent months.
His finance minister resigned in March after corruption cases were launched against him, while his father-in-law and other senior lawmakers were also under investigation.
A former prosecutor who took office in 2012, Ponta faces a general election next year. His government is pushing a series of disputed tax cuts through parliament.