24 November 2014
Alina Bica, 40, the Chief Prosecutor for Organised Crime, is under investigation for abuse of office. She was detained for questioning on Friday. The investigation is not related to her current post but her earlier position in National Authority for Property Restitution, ANRP.
She approved compensation for a 13-hectare plot in a suburb of Bucharest which was significantly overpriced. The land value was inflated from 27 million to 87.4 million Euros. She received the land in exchange for her decision and sold it to a businessman who has already been arrested under another corruption case.
Bica is the first top level magistrate to be investigated for corruption.
European Union had expressed concern over Romania’s corruption.  It is because of the high level of corruption Romania has been barred from joining the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone.
According to the public prosecutor’s office some 30 members or former members of parliament have been convicted or are under investigation. Some 100 mayors or vice mayors are also on trial for awarding public contracts to friends and relatives or similar abuse of office.

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