Disagreement Between Anticorruption Agencies? What is Behind the Resignation of the NAC Head Iulian Rusu

At the next meeting, MPs will consider the resignation of the NAC head. It became known yesterday that Iulian Rusu is leaving his post, the chairman of the parliament wrote about it in social network. Igor Grosu thanked Iulian Rusu for his efforts in the institution’s activity, noting that a new director of the center will be proposed in the near future. TV8 tried to get a comment from Rusu, but he did not respond to calls. “I have noted the letter on resignation of the NAC director, Iulian Rusu, which I’ve received today. The expectations of the parliament and the whole society from the NAC are very clear: to speed up investigations into corruption, to stop illegal financial flows, to ensure the integrity of the agency by speeding up the reform of the center and cleansing it of harmful activities and personalities”, - this is how Igor Grosu reported in his Facebook about the resignation of the NAC director, but did not specify details. Journalists tried to get a comment from Iulian Rusu personally, but he did not respond to phone calls. The NAC head’s resignation follows amidst disagreements between the two institutions over the supervision of legislation. Thus, at the parliamentary session, Rusu stated that recently the relations between the NAC and the Anticorruption and General Prosecutor’s Offices were unclear. As a result, this prevented the employees of the institution he headed from doing their work effectively. At that time, the General and Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Offices construed the statements of the NAC head as an attempt to unreasonably tarnish their image. Moreover, Rusu was accused of trying to stir up hostility due to possible merger between the NAC and the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, which he opposed. The tensions between the two institutions became even more evident after the head of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office Veronica Dragalin organized a meeting with NAC officers to discuss some corruption cases, to which Iulian Rusu was not invited. The NAC head did not like this and came to the meeting, according to Dragalin, and demanded that his subordinates leave the room. And recently, during the scandal with the former member of the Superior Council of Magistracy Iulian Muntean, who passed the Pre-Vetting Commission, despite the existence of a criminal case, the NAC head said that the information had been overlooked deliberately. That is why it was not in the database. “Preliminarily, we’ve identified that there is suspicion of bad faith on the part of some NAC staff. I am not providing definitive information, there are only some suspicions. The employees against whom I ordered a review, how they live and who just before the scheduled meeting of the disciplinary commission, suddenly fell ill,” Rusu said. Iulian Rusu became the head of the NAC on 3 February 2022, his candidacy was approved by 57 deputies.