Premium
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Lucian Bode, stated, on Wednesday evening, that the case in Sibiu, where 25 police officers are being investigated for corruption, is about "cleaning up our own yard".
"We, the MAI [Ministry of Internal Affairs], are cleaning up our own yard. We said from the beginning that the MAI's immune system must be a functional one and what we see today, the result of the action of the Prosecutor's Office together with the General Anti-corruption Directorate, an MAI structure, has been carried out in Sibiu by the 17 search warrants, 33 summons, for the 25 police officers with the Traffic Police, is nothing more than our intention to rid us of our black sheep," said Bode at private broadcaster Antena 3.
The Minister added that no infringement from the regulations of the Romanian Police is tolerated.
"There are 129,000 employees in all MAI structures, there are approximately 49,000 police officers, obviously that there are situations like this also and as we've done at Precinct 16, for example, where the entire procedure was initiated also upon our request (...), as happened in Suceava, in the famous case of corruption in the Driving Licenses Service, same here, this case has been documented for a long time and certainly, remaining with the presumption of innocence, today they were brought to court, some with proposal for detainment, some for arrest. We tolerate no infringement of the regulations of the Romanian Police. If we are to be an example in society and we constantly want, as is normal, to project safety and confidence, it will be hard to demonstrate these when we have such elements," said Lucian Bode.
According to him, through such actions "the Romanian Police will ultimately be in the win."
On Wednesday there have been 17 home searches to gather evidence of corruption in a criminal case where 25 police agents from the Sibiu County Police Inspectorate are suspects.
