The prosecutors conducting an extended investigation into the frauds committed in the banking sector said dozens of persons will be questioned in the immediate period, including high-ranking officials. The investigation focuses on the activity of Banca de Economii, Unibank and Banca Sociala in 2007-2015, IPN reports.
In a press briefing on May 29, anticorruption prosecutor Eduard Harunjen said during the last three days the special prosecution group carried out searches and seized documents from the Parliament Building, the Government Building, the Ministry of Finance, the National Bank, the National Commission for Financial Markets and other state institutions. The documents include mainly the correspondence between institutions and meeting proceedings. The prosecutors requested that the property of those who are investigated as suspects in this case should be sequestrated. Measures are taken to identify the ways by which the money was taken out of the country.
Anticorruption prosecutor Adriana Betisor said there will be investigated the persons who had connection with the management of the three banks in 2007-2015. Representatives of the previous governments and police officers whose names appear in press reports in connection with the frauds will also be investigated.
Adrian Popenco, who heads the prosecution group, said the prosecutors are to identify the authors of the scheme by which an impressive number of bad loans were released and are to determine why the responsible institutions didn’t react on time. A group of prosecutors were assigned to deal with the recovery of the money stolen from the banking system.
Last week, Prosecutor General Corneliu Gurin announced that the investigation into the detrimental management of state property will be extended. According to the central bank’s estimates, 13 billion lei was stolen from the banking system through bad loans.
