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As of the summer of 2019, the new law to fight against money laundering, which went unnoticed, abolished the plenary session of the Office for the Fight against Money Laundering, made up of 8 representatives of institutions such as the NBR, the Court of Accounts , the ASF or the Prosecutor’s Office.
The appointment of the president of the National Office for the Prevention and Fight against Money Laundering (ONPCSB), a key state institution, of a person who obtained a baccalaureate degree at age 32 brings to light another big problem: In 2019, The office is headed only by a president and a vice president appointed by the government, since since its constitution until now the office has been headed by eight representatives of entities such as BNR, Court of Accounts, ASF, Ministry of the Interior or Ministry of Justice.
ONPCSB plays a crucial role in notifying the competent bodies of suspicious financial transactions and receives information from all financial institutions in Romania. Financial transactions with question marks came to the table of the office plenary and the members decided whether the information was passed on to the competent bodies.
According to a new law, promoted by the PSD and approved by the Chamber of Deputies in 2019, now only the president and vice president decide by what information the Prosecutor’s Office is notified.
The law went unnoticed and was approved by CSAT and signed by President Klaus Iohannis. No one was notified during the adoption process, although there were discussions within the institutions, but no reaction.
Money laundering scandal: what is at stake, in fact, is not a falsified resume, but the fact that the Anti-Money Laundering Office is administered at its discretion under the new law
♦ As of 2019, through the new law against money laundering, the government appoints directly the leadership of the Anti-Money Laundering Office ♦ Initially, the Office was headed by representatives of the NBR, the Court of Accounts, the FSA , the Prosecutor’s Office and others. institutions.
The scandal of appointing a person with a bachelor’s degree obtained at the age of 32 at the head of the National Office for Prevention and Fight against Money Laundering (ONPCSB), beyond the obvious responsibility of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, who signed the appointment, hides another big problem: In 2019 the council is headed only by a president and a vice president appointed by the government, since from its constitution to the present the office has been headed by 8 representatives of entities such as BNR, Tribunal de Accounts, ASF, Ministry of the Interior or Ministry of Justice.
The office plays an extremely important role in reporting any suspicious financial movements and receives information on everything that a public or private financial institution means in Romania.
The transfers of information on financial transactions with question marks reached the plenary table of the Prosecutor’s Office and were or were not referred to the Prosecutor’s Office, by decision and intervention of the members of the plenary, who had equal powers.
According to a new law, promoted by the PSD and approved by the Chamber of Deputies in 2019, now only the president and the vice president decide by which of the information the prosecution is notified.
In the summer of 2019, Parliament passed the new money laundering law, 129/2019. The initiative belonged to the PSD government Viorica Dăncilă and was adopted by the Chamber of Deputies with 170 votes in favor (from PSD, ALDE and minorities) and 70 votes against (from PNL, USR and unaffiliated).
The law went unnoticed and passed CSAT approval and the signature of President Klaus Iohannis. No one was notified during the adoption process, although there were discussions within the institutions, but there was a lack of reaction. The management responsibility of the Office is enormous: the institution analyzes information, reports to law enforcement agencies, suspends suspicious financial transactions, provides information support to law enforcement agencies, and implements international sanctions. .
According to the same text of the law, it is mandatory to inform ONPCSB of all transactions worth at least 10,000 euros, regardless of whether they are one or more transactions. Also, all external transfers of at least 15,000 euros reach the ONPCSB. Reporting institutions include credit institutions, financial institutions, private pension fund managers, gambling service providers, auditors, accountants, auditors, tax, financial or commercial advisers, notaries public, lawyers, bailiffs, Real Estate agents.
The old money laundering law mentioned that the Office for the Fight against Money Laundering is headed by a plenary session made up of a representative of the Ministry of Public Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Superior Court of Cassation and Justice, The National Bank of Romania, the Court of Accounts and the Financial Supervision Authority, appointed for a period of 5 years, by decision of the government. “The Office is headed by a President, appointed by the Government from among the members of the plenary session of the Office, who has the capacity of principal authorizing officer, assisted by three advisers (…) In the event of a vacancy in the plenary session of the Office , the head of the competent authority will propose to the Government a new person, within 30 days following the date of the vacancy ”, was shown in the old law.
The new 2019 law removes other structures such as the Court of Accounts, BNR, ASF or the Office of the Prosecutor from the management scheme of the Office and replaces the full Office with a vice president, appointed by the government. “On the date of entry into force of this law, the mandate of the members of the Plenary of the Office will end. The termination of the mandate is determined by a decision of the government within 10 days after the entry into force of this law . The president of the Office in office on the date of entry into force of the law exercises his mandate until the appointment of a new president under the conditions of this law “, is reflected in law 129/2019.
The President and Vice President of the Office shall be appointed for a period of four years and may be reinstated once for an additional period of four years. The president and vice president must meet, among other things, the following conditions: be licensed and have at least 10 years of experience in an economic or legal position; have Romanian citizenship and domicile in Romania; enjoy a high professional reputation; have managerial experience of at least 3 years in managerial positions; they have not been sanctioned in the last 5 years.
Contacted for clarification on the appointment of Laurenţiu Baranga to the leadership of ONPCSB, representatives from Prime Minister Ludovic Orban’s office did not respond to ZF’s requests until press time.
Who is responsible for appointing a person who completed high school at 32 years of age in a position such as president of the Office for the Fight against Money Laundering? How could Ludovic Orban and Florin Cîţu sign?
The appointment of the leadership of the National Office for the Prevention and Fight against Money Laundering (ONPCSB) is the exclusive competence of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, in accordance with the new 2019 law on money laundering. The Orban government, signed by Prime Minister Ludovic Orban and Finance Minister Florin Cîţu, appointed Laurenţiu Baranga to the leadership of ONPCSB in the fall of 2020, currently under investigation for falsifying his high school diploma, obtained at the age age 32, as written on His resume. The problem, however, is, in terms of this appointment, not the fake BAC diploma, but the competition from Baranga, who
He studied high school at the age of 32. Laurenţiu Baranga is 53 years old and is currently under house arrest and under investigation for the crime of fraud. Prosecutors accuse him of falsifying his baccalaureate degree, allegedly obtained in 1999 (at the age of 32). As reported by Press One, after the court annulled her bachelor’s degree in 2016 and all university degrees earned, Laurenţiu Baranga continued her rise in her academic career and became a doctoral supervisor at Bucharest University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine ( USAMV) and university professor at the University of Wallachia.
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