TRAFFIC POLICE “BROKEN”: FORTEEN AGENTS PROSECUTED
Ziua de Iasi, 5th of November 2009
Almost a quarter of Traffic Police will relocate on the justice halls. Yesterday, prosecutors brought to the court 14 road agents (out of the initial 54), following the spectacular raids that took place in February at the Traffic Police headquarters as result of corruption allegations on the institution. The public prosecutors from the Court of Appeal gathered 400 pages in the most complex corruption case from Iaşi – evidence show the traffic policemen sold their epaulettes for a bottle of whiskey or for a few favors.
According to telephone recordings, the agents traded favors to save slicks caught with different contraventions in traffic. Reading the bill of indictment, an explanation for numerous dramatic incidents that took place on Iaşi roads can be underlined. Instead of penalizing the drivers that were speeding or driving without a license, without registration numbers, safety belt or technical reviews, etc. the policemen illegally transformed them in so-called relatives, especially “cousins”, exempt them from fines, falsified the documents and let them drive as nothing happened. The result? Tens of tragedies which place Iaşi for years now, on top of the undesirable ranking of traffic accidents.
The list of shame contains 14 names, with different accusations. Those who will end up in Court as defendants are:
- Carp Vănel – breach of duty against public interest, instigation to intellectual forgery, two infractions of material forgery, instigation not followed by execution to material forgery, intellectual forgery.
- Marciuc Răzvan Ionel– breach of duty against public interest, two infractions of material forgery, two infractions of traffic of influence in aggravating form, intellectual forgery.
- Munteanu Lucian– breach of duty against public interest, instigation not followed by execution of breach of service against public interest, material forgery, intellectual forgery.
- Lazăr Iulian – breach of duty against public interest, instigation to breach of duty against public interest, material forgery.
- Manole Constantin Bebi – breach of duty against public interest, instigation to breach of duty against public interest.
- Ciubotariu Cristian – breach of duty against public interest, instigation not followed by execution of breach of service against public interest, intellectual forgery, instigation to material forgery.
- Bulancea Constantin – breach of duty against public interest, instigation not followed by execution of breach of service against public interest.
- Melniciuc Marius Dănuţ – breach of duty against public interest, instigation not followed by execution of breach of service against public interest, two infractions of intellectual forgery, bribery.
- Harnagea Cătălin Gheorghiţă – instigation to breach of duty against public interest, instigation not followed by execution to breach of duty against public interest
- Bîrsaniuc George Eduard– breach of duty against public interest.
- Lupu Daniel Petrişor – breach of duty against public interest, two infractions of intellectual forgery.
- Captalan Gelu – breach of duty against public interest, bribery.
- Martin Marius – instigation to breach of duty against public interest.
- Grecu Dan Cristian– breach of duty against public interest, instigation to breach of duty against public interest.
Prosecutors attached to the file tens of telephone recordings in which the police agents turned the fines into warnings or erased penalizing points, etc. Here are a few examples from the bill of indictment.
What it means to own a BMW X5
A woman, owner of a BWM X5, caught driving without a safety belt on 20th of September 2008, managed, with interventions, to reduce her penalization. According to the prosecutors, S.L. was initially penalized with a fine and four penalizing points. A few phone calls made between agents were sufficient to transform the fine into a warning.
Lawyer
Lawyer Gianina Poroșnicu, defending Constantin Manole claims she will prepare the defense after studying the bill of indictment, 354 long. “I will continue to represent my client during the trial stage. In the following days we will discuss and sketch the defense strategy. It is too early for me to comment at present time”.