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September 29, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
conduct for magistrates and prosecutors”. How- ever, following the decision, the two returned as prosecutors to the regional offices where they had been employed prior to their term as DNA officers, raising questions about the real mo- tive for their dismissal. Tulus in particular is
a respected prosecutor, who led the first case against former prime minister Adrian Nastase.
He and Iorga were sacked after recordings from DNA meetings, which Kovesi claimed had been altered to show her in a bad light, were leaked to the media. Specifically, the recordings seemed to suggest Kovesi was putting pressure on prosecutors to generate more high-profile cases. Both Tulus and Iorga refused to take the polygraph test ordered by Kovesi to identify who had delivered the recordings to the media.
Earlier on September 25, Kovesi talked in an interview for Europa FM radio station about
“[political] pressures against judiciary”, but said she expected a favourable outcome of the pre- liminary evaluations by Judiciary Inspection.
However, the timing of the extended disciplinary investigations into Kovesi support her claims
of political pressures, coming as they do after the DNA started an investigation into Regional Development Minister Sevil Shhaideh, a close partner of Dragnea's, and asked for the parlia- ment’s approval for an investigation into Environ- ment Minister Rovana Plumb. The case concerns properties acquired by Tel Drum, a construc- tion company reportedly controlled by Dragnea, though the politician has denied any connection.
Senate head Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who is one of the fiercest opponents of the DNA, called the DNA’s latest investigations no less than a coup d’etat pursued by the anticorruption prosecutors.
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