Dancila denies Barna's accusations that Antifraud Department is acting on PSD's political command

Social Democratic Party (PSD) Chair, outgoing Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, denied on Friday the claims of Save Romania Union (USR) leader and presidential contestant Dan Barna that the current investigation conducted against him by the Anti-Fraud Department (DLAF) is politically motivated.

"I cannot even respond to such a claim. I haven't done and never will do something like that, on the contrary, I wished all the candidates success and I have never been a supporter of such measures, let alone to do something like this," Dancila said in Brasov.

The USR Chairman announced on Friday that he asked DLAF to refer all the documents concerning him to the National Anti-corruption Directorate, accusing the use of information from a journalistic inquiry for political purposes.

In a Facebook post Dan Barna asked his supporters to refrain from attacks against Rise Project that conducts a journalistic investigation into European-funded projects he has been involved with in the past.

Barna accused DLAF - which has confirmed that it is performing preliminary checks in his case - of acting on PSD's command.

"In a government where the Transport minister orders aircraft to be grounded, demands TAROM company to not allow the planes to take off, does anyone doubt that Ms. Dancila wouldn't shy away from asking Toni Grebla to look a little into fraud issues? So we're in a presidential electoral campaign. It's clear that we are speaking in this line of reasoning and I don't want to be checked by Ms. Dancila. It's ridiculous and absurd. I am totally transparent, totally open, but I want the investigation to be conducted by an institution that is not subordinated to a direct counter-candidate. It's as simple as that. (...) I am very proud of my consulting activity, there's nothing to hide and nothing illegal in this activity. But I have a legitimate expectation for the checks to be carried out by an institution which is politically independent in the electoral campaign," the USR leader said.