Adina Florea, a prosecutor currently delegated to the Constanţa Court of Appeals, will be proposed by Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader to serve as chief prosecutor of Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), a position that has been open since the controversial firing previous Chief Prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kovesi in July.
“Following the selection procedure that took place between August 6 and September 4, 2018 at the Ministry of Justice, we inform you that the proposal of the Minister of Justice Tudorel Toader for the appointment to the position of Chief Prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate is Mrs. Adina Florea,” the ministry said in a statement.
Floea’s nomination will be forwarded to the Superior Council of Magistracy for an advisory opinion, before going to the President of Romania for approval.
In a written submission to the ministry as part of her candidacy for the position Adina Florea said that in addition to the good work carried out by anti-corruption prosecutors in the last few years, there have been also been “deviations from the rigors of the rule of law.”
“In recent years, Romania has taken important steps in the fight against corruption, both external evaluations and internal analysis reflecting consistent results in this area, with prosecutors within the National Anticorruption Directorate (…) playing a central role in this work. Notwithstanding the good things that have been done in recent years, an analysis of the DNA activity, brings to light enough, if not too many, deviations from the rigors of the rule of law,” wrote Adina Florea in the managerial project published Thursday on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
In her opinion, the activities of the DNA have at times “been considerably removed from the professional, balanced approach (expected of prosecutors) … and sometimes even in conflict with the law.”
As a result of the “discretionary exercise of the office” practiced by “some members of the DNA body,” Florea says the DNA has been diverted from its “constitutional and legal” obligation of fighting corruption.
Florea’s predecessor, Laura Codruta Kovesi was fired from the job in July following a string of run-ins with the Social Democrat government over her pursuit of corrupt officials.
During her five years in charge, dozens of former MPs, ministers and senior government officials received convictions for corruption.
Among them was the Social Democrat leader, Liviu Dragnea, who was barred from running for prime minister after he was found guilty of abuse of power in 2016. In 2018 he was convicted for a second graft charge and remains under investigation for alleged embezzlement of EU funds.
