National Integrity Agency president: ANI amendments brought by mainly UDMR and PDL are fatal. It was ruled in personal interest

The alterations recently brought to the ANI Law amputate, „more than seriously”, the National Integrity Agency’s attributions, ANI president Catalin Macovei told RFI. The document was adopted by the two Parliament Chambers, but the Senate has brought extremely controversial amendments. Among others, the candidates are no longer compelled to submit wealth and interest statements before running for a public role; union members are not to be investigated by ANI; and the wealth investigating commissions attached to the Appeal Court have been eliminated.

The amendments to the ANI law are „fatal”, ANI president Catalin Macovei believes. „These alterations amputate, more than seriously, the Agency’s investigation attributions regarding wealth investigations. Practically, the Agency has been left without a tool to sanction unjustified wealth. The only remaining attributions are notifying the Prosecutor’s Office and the National Agency for Fiscal Administration”, he says.

ANI chief seems surprised that the most damaging changes came from the governing coalition: „It is completely surprising for me that the fatal amendments have come mainly from the governing coalition senators, mostly UDMR, but also PDL, which for me was mind-blowing, bearing in mind that this was a legislative initiative taken by the Government. The only explanation I’ve got is that we are dealing with a ruling in personal interest and I take responsibility for this statement”.

Catalin Macovei also believes that post-modifying the law, the National Integrity Agency „is much more fragile, obviously, at least when it comes to investigating wealth. Fortunately, to also see the full half of the glass, we can still investigate interest conflicts and incompatibilities”, he notes.

The ANI president expects the next European Commission report on justice to be „catastrophic”: „I see a catastrophic report regarding the evolution of the National Integrity Agency”.