Romanian anti-corruption officials questioned the former head of the country’s tax agency on Monday on accusations that he took a bribe in exchange for awarding public contracts, the anti-corruption agency said in a statement. Sorin Blejnar, the former head of Romania’s National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), allegedly received more than 13 million Romanian lei […]

The following press release was issued by the European Commission on November 9, 2016 11:40. Political criteria The electoral legislation was improved, with a number of OSCE-ODIHR recommendations being followed and local elections organised broadly in an orderly manner, despite incidents in some municipalities which need to be investigated. Despite efforts to resolve the Mostar […]

The following press release was issued by the European Commission on November 9, 2016 11:40. The past year saw the continuation of accession negotiations with the EU. The parliamentary elections of October 2016 were conducted under a substantially revised legal framework and, overall, in a more participatory and transparent manner. In December 2015, Montenegro received […]

PRISTINA, Kosovo* (AP)  Prosecutors representing the European Union have cleared a former international judge of the EU’s rule-of-law mission, known as EULEX, and three Kosovo* lawyers of allegations of corruption. A statement Monday by Kosovo*’s prosecutor-general’s office said former EULEX Judge Francesco Florit, an Italian, “has not solicited or accepted any form of bribe, and […]

Romania is taking big strides in rooting out high-level corruption, new data shows, in stark contrast to neighbours Bulgaria. The duo, who both joined the EU in 2007, have been ranked among the worst in the bloc for perceptions of bribery and fraud. But a year since a corruption scandal brought down Romania’s government, figures […]

Laura Codruta Kovesi, the chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Department (DNA), has been awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the Polar Star by the King of Sweden, the Embassy of Sweden in Bucharest announced on Wednesday, November 2. Kovesi was decorated for the “sustained and courageous fight against corruption in Romania, which […]

Unemployment and corruption are the most serious problems for Kosovars, as most consider that the institutions’ anti-graft efforts have been ineffective, a report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) showed. Some 39% of Kosovo’s citizens perceive unemployment as a key issue, the special edition of the UNDP’s Public Pulse on Corruption report published last […]

The Financial Guard of Italy has started a massive investigation in the country on rigged tenders for large infrastructure projects. One of the companies targeted by the investigation is constructor Salini Impregilo, which built the segment 3 of the Sibiu-Orastie in Romania. Part of this highway segment was demolished one year after the inauguration due […]

Today, the NWC’s Executive Director Stephen Kohn will take part in the “For Every Truth There Is a Source: Protecting Whistleblowers and Journalistic Sources” conference in Belgrade, Serbia. This international conference, hosted by the Serbian whistleblower advocacy group Pištaljkaa (The Whistle), and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Information runs from Thursday the 27th […]

Kosovo’s special prosecution has filed indictments against 37 people in a major case of organized crime involving senior politicians and judges, and former MP Azem Syla. Kosovo’s special prosecution on Tuesday filed two indictments for organized crime and money laundering against 22 and 17 persons respectively. Both groups were allegedly led by Azem Syla, former […]