Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta was charged with forgery and serving as an accessory to tax evasion and money laundering yesterday, further tarnishing the image of the ex-communist state as it struggles to shake off a reputation for corruption.
Prosecutors said they had named the 42-year-old prime minister as a defendant in a five-week long criminal investigation, and temporarily seized control of his property. He denies wrongdoing and says the case is politically motivated.
Financial markets shrugged off the development, which for now stops short of a formal indictment that would send the case to trial.
But it represents a new setback for Romania’s efforts to clean up its murky politics, business and the judiciary under pressure from the European Union, which it joined in 2007 together with southern neighbour Bulgaria.
Romania’s reputation for corruption has deterred foreign investment, and even its anti-graft efforts have had the unintended effect of slowing decision-making and delaying important contracts.
Ponta said on Sunday he was stepping down as leader of his leftist PSD party until the investigation was completed, but has made clear he will not resign as prime minister despite June 5 calls from President Klaus Iohannis for him to quit.
Asked about Ponta at a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in Madrid, Iohannis said: “I stick to the comments I made, I will have an institutional relation with the prime minister.”
The investigation began on June 5 and focuses on Ponta’s activities as a lawyer from 2007-2009.
“Prosecutors ordered a stepping-up of the penal action against the defendant Ponta, a lawyer at the time of the deeds ... on charges of forgery of documents - 17 counts - accessory to tax evasion... and money laundering,” the DNA anti-corruption prosecutors said in a statement.
PM on crutches
Romanian television showed Ponta, who returned to Bucharest last week after nearly a month in Turkey for knee surgery, leaving the DNA headquarters on crutches and later in the day entering the party’s headquarters for his allies meeting.
The meeting yielded further support for Ponta, as expected.
“Our plan is to get together in the coalition government until the 2016 parliament election,” said leader Calin Tariceanu from junior ally, the liberal grouping ALDE.
“We back Ponta as prime minister in the coalition,” said another ally, deputy premier Gabriel Oprea of the leftist UNPR.
Ponta has so far withstood intense political pressure from the opposition and from Iohannis, a centrist rival who defeated him in last November’s presidential election. Protected by a comfortable majority in parliament, he has survived three opposition censure motions, most recently last month.