General cleanup, all the merchandise of the Port of Constanţa is being checked

The port of Constanţa Sud - Agigea entered the second phase of the "general cleanup". Over 120 border policemen, customs officers and gendarmes checked the merchandise containers yesterday, to determine the existence of contraband and tax evasion acts. The action is expected to last a long time, as it will expand into next week.

The spokesperson of the Border Police, Fabian Bădilă, said that the action is being organized by the Border Police, under the coordination of the Public Safety Department of the Ministry of Administration and Internal Affairs, and it will also involve border policemen, gendarmes and officials of the National Customs Authority. This action is based on information collected by the Central Structure of the General Office of Information and Internal Protection (DGIPI). All this deployment of forces occurred four days after the searches conducted by investigators in the Constanţa customs, which resulted in 29 arrest warrants for the creation of an organized crime faction, contraband and tax evasion. Aside from the already known measures taken against senator Banias and the secretary general of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Laurenţiu Mironescu, the head of Service of Information and Internal Protection (SIPI) of the county of Constanţa, chief-commissioner George Popa, was dismissed, as was the head of the Protection Department of SIPI Constanţa.

Concerning this case, president Traian Băsescu said on the public TV station that Laurenţiu Mironescu needs to answer for his actions, even though he was part of the high level structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: "It"s only the court that can decide whether Mironescu is guilty or not. I have often criticized political appointments, I think that all parties need to reach a consensus on the how high we can go before we no longer make political appointments. I understand that the secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was validated by the Office of the National Registry of Secret State Information (ORNISS). IF there was anything anyone had to say, they should have done so in January ".

Minister Traian Igaş urged the leaders of the Public Order and Safety Department to be harsher in the enactment of legal measures against those who break the law in the Port of Constanţa and to continue the actions in cooperation with other institutions of the state which are competent in this sector: "We will continue our actions in customs and in the border crossing points because we have the duty to ensure a clean business environment and to firmly fight tax evasion". Vasile Lincu, the leader of the Pro Lex considers that this was an extremely important message in the fight against corruption: "The actions of these past few days are the most obvious sign that things can"t go on the way they were, namely the smuggling which went on even during the raids which took place two-three months ago. The message that this sends is more important than all these raids. These actions will affect the very system of corruption itself". The internal affair run by the leaders of the DGIPI on a central and territorial level is in full swing, and the next days could bring new information concerning the sacking of some the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.