Senators approve criminal inquiry against ex-minister Seres but archived and secured original file, so that prosecutors can't do anything

Romanian senators are blocking high corruption cases even when they appear to give green light to inquiries. Two decisions issued on August 26, allowing criminal inquiries in the cases of ex-minister Codrut Seres and minister-to-go Paul Pacuraru, contained provisions by which the original files against the two became archived and secret under the control of the Senate.

That means that in Seres’ case investigators can’t do anything as the 70 volumes of originally collected data are now archived and secret.

The Pacuraru case is different as the head of the anti-graft body DNA sent only copies of the files and kept the originals, so that the inquiry can continue.

Prosecutors have claimed the Seres file back from the Senate but the latter failed to respond so far, according to General Prosecutor’s Office officials.

Seres faces charges related to the abusive privatization of key energy assets in Romania while he served as Energy Ministry in the mid 2000’s.