The new director general of the Customs Service Vitalei Vrabie noted that three weeks ago, when he took up his duties, he found a system exposed to corruption. In a news conference, this said that the Service will be reformed, the number of internal checkpoints and of administrative functions will be reduced, while the number of executive tasks will be increased. It is also planned to raise the salaries of customs officers, IPN reports.

According to Vitalei Vrabie, the negative phenomena about which society spoke were indeed present at the Service when he came, such as smuggling schemes, inclusion of gods in inferior tariff positions and artificial increase of the units of personnel in the central staff. From 165 in 2011, the number of employees rose to over 380 in 2016.

The Customs Service’s director noted that this January the amounts collected by the institution were by 76 million lei lower. This showed that the system was generally managed defectively. In March already the target figure was by 137 million lei higher.

Vitalie Vrabie also said that the integrity of customs employees remains the most important issue because this affects not only the economic security of the state, but also the institution’s image. The Customs Service’s central staff started to be reorganized and the number of employees will be reduced from 388 to 260.

The seven existing customs offices will be reduced to three. The efficiency of the internal checkpoints is being determined so as to cut these too. The remaining employees will have more duties and this means greater financial motivation for them. The director refused to say how much the salaries will be raised, noting that a customs officer with a salary of 2 900 lei is more vulnerable to corruption.