Timis Prefect Elena Micicoi has submitted her resignation following the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) investigation, which included a search of her home on Friday.
"I have submitted my resignation as prefect of Timis County. The decision is mine and mine alone. The Prefect's Institution represents the Romanian Government in the territory, not a person. I will not allow an investigation concerning a project run in the past by an association of mine, through GAL Freidorf, to become a issue for the institution I have led. There is a complaint that EPPO prosecutors are legally required to verify. The investigation is at the beginning. In the end, it will be determined whether I have any procedural status in this case, and I am convinced the answer will confirm what I am saying now: I have nothing to hide, I am innocent. I now need all my energy to protect my family and defend my dignity. I will do this as a citizen, not from office. I thank my colleagues from the Timis County Prefect's Institution for their professionalism and cooperation. We achieved many good things together for the community in which I have always been present. I remain at the investigators' disposal, as I have been from the first hour," Micicoi wrote on Facebook.
Earlier in the day, after the EPPO search, Micicoi said she had no procedural status in the investigation - not even that of a witness - and that no accusations had been brought against her.
She said the checks concern a privately run services project financed before she became prefect, and that the only issue identified during implementation was the reimbursement of an amount deemed ineligible, but which was returned within the legal deadline.
