Kovesi, reply for Băsescu, after the former president said that he was wrong when he appointed her to head the DNA
Laura Codruța Kovesi, the chief prosecutor of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, holds the conference at the University of the West with the title “Organized crime has no borders. But does the European Public Prosecutor's Office?”, on April 4, 2024, Timișoara. PHOTO: INQUAM PHOTOS/Virgil Simonescu.
The former head of the National Anticorruption Directorate, Laura Codruţa Kovesi, who now leads the European Public Prosecutor's Office, gave a reply to the former president Traian Băsescu on Wednesday, after he repeatedly stated, in recent years, that he was wrong when he appointed her to lead the DNA.
“I have heard Mr. President Băsescu many times, in recent years I think I have heard him say a few times that he made a mistake by appointing me to the DNA. After that, I think he said in one of the interventions that he made a big mistake by appointing me to the DNA. What can we do, some of us remain in people's memories for our bigger or smaller mistakes”, said Laura Codruţa Kovesi, in the “Friendly Fire” podcast, with journalists Moise Guran and Vlad Petreanu, broadcast on YouTube.
Kovesi added that he respects his former colleagues and refused to comment on the fact that in recent years the number of files processed by the DNA has decreased, arguing that he does not know the working conditions of the prosecutors. She stated that she cannot comment on something she cannot personally evaluate.
“Do you think that the DNA prosecutors, the same people with whom I worked for years and who made all those files, were allowed to do their job, were encouraged to do their job, had everything they needed to do their job? Do you think that after seeing all those acquittals and after these defendants, who escaped, went and sued the Romanian state and the Romanian state turned against them, they still have motivation to do these files? I don't know, let's ask them, let's have a debate and then I will comment”, said Kovesi, quoted by News.ro.
The former head of DNA confirmed that many of her experienced colleagues told her that they left the system because they were not allowed to “really do their job” and because “there is pressure on them and when they open important files they are taken away”.
In the same Wednesday interview on the “Frindly Fire” podcast, Kovesi accused the “relevant law enforcement authorities” of using “intimidation tactics, silencing, manipulation, disinformation” instead of trying to verify whether the allegations in the Recorder documentary “Captured Justice” are true or not and correct the problems in the field.
“Let's also look at the statistics of prosecutors and judges who have been sent to trial for various crimes in recent years: zero. I think we have the cleanest justice system,” said the former head of DNA ironically.
