SOMETHING THAT"S NEVER HAPPENED AT THE CUSTOMS BEFORE Coming down the Siret river...

Yesterday"s show was first of all, something that"s never happened before: busting the entire staff of a border crossing point and moving it to Bucharest, cleaning woman included (she was allegedly in on it).

Doing something like this akin to art.

What do you think is the reason for this happening now?

Is it the accession to the Schengen space, or the coming elections in the PDL, scheduled to take place on May 15th?

Of course, the corruption issues are real, but so are the pressure from the Europeans about our corruption, and the disagreements between the groups in the PDL, which Valeriu Stoica recently said would escalate the elections for the presidency of the party grow near.

• THECORRUPTION IN THE CUSTOMS DEPARTMENTS

The Siret border crossing point answers to the Customs Authority of Iaşi.

One year ago, the latter ordered the Customs of Albiţa to send it a daily report detailing the spots where the agents of the former were located on the roads which goods pass on.

Pretty strange isn"t it?

Why would the people in Iaşi need to know where the customs agents of Albiţa are located?!

But this is small potatoes to other things.

Get this: the mobile control teams aren"t allowed within 30 km from the border with the Republic of Moldova.

Why is that?

It"s simple: during certain shifts, you could cross the border with a herd of elephants, to say nothing of less conspicuous items.

Just take the elephant, and hide it in someone"s house, 29.9 km away from the border; customs agents are 100 meters away, they can look, but they can"t touch - for them the circumference of Romania is 30 km smaller all around.

In the rare event that some dumb customs officer wouldn"t keep their mouth shut, (but we all know there"s no way this would happen, since customs employee are smart enough to know when to shut up), then the trip of the control team would be cancelled, rescheduled or announced in advance, either by the central department in Iaşi or by the people of the Siret border crossing point.

Allegedly, this is what the bosses are up to.

Also some customs bosses receive a second non-taxable monthly salary (around 2000 RON) from the duty-free shops, and of course, their cuts of various deals.

Corruption takes many forms among customs officers (they are extremely adaptable), but even if only what I"ve written above were true, then that would justify arresting everybody and their mother of the Siret Customs Point (so to speak), and bringing them over to Bucharest for a chat.

This just leaves two questions unanswered - timing and location: why now, why there of all places?

Because you had to start somewhere, because things are the same everywhere ...(Read the article "Record captures in the Siret Customs"

• The PDL connection

When looking at who the political masters of the customs are, you find that the Eastern side seems to be controlled by former internal affairs minister Blaga, and the Western side by current internal affairs minister Igaş.

Both of them are members of the PDL.

So, you mean to tell me that hawks do pick out hawk"s eyes?!

Of course they do.

They"re not hawks, they"re politicians.

Vasile Blaga apparently wants to be the leader of the PDL.

Traian Igaş wants what Traian wants.

The other Traian that is,...namely Băsescu.

Băsescu doesn"t want Blaga to become president of the PDL.

Blaga resigned from his position as Minister of the Internal Affairs, and Băsescu accepted that resignation.

And so, everyone at the Siret Customs gets arrested - but the people of the Customs of Arad - which is the turf of Traian Igaş - are left alone!

So is this coordinated from on high, or a lucky coincidence? (Read below what Valer Marian (PSD) has to say on the scandal of the arrests: "It is a fight between Igaş and Blaga")

• Le merveilleux Schengen

Europeans know that a customs officer has a salary of 400 Euros.

"How can you expect them not to be corrupt, when they only get paid 400 Euros?!", they say.

We have something else to say: "What, a customs agent gets paid 400 Euros and a teacher only gets paid 200 Euros?!"

With things being the way they are, we don"t care about the corruption in the customs office, because we are more concerned with the fact that our children aren"t getting proper education!

What would be doing in the Schengen space with the rednecks coming out of our schools?!

• Record captures at the Siret Border Crossing

• Since the beginning of 2011, the officers of the Siret Customs have seized tens of thousands of cigarettes and have levied fines of tens of thousands of lei

Yesterday"s arrest of the policemen and agents of the Siret Customs for cigarette contraband and offering bribes comes just as, since the beginning of the year, The Customs Office of Siret confiscated tens of thousands of contraband cigarettes and levied fines of tens of thousands of lei.

The most recent capture of the Customs Office of Siret occurred on Wednesday, when the inspectors seized a car of a Ukrainian citizen, in which 310 packs of contraband cigarettes were found. The customs office alerted the Border Police to begin prosecution, as the Ukrainian citizen in question was a repeat offender.

A record capture occurred on January 27nd, 2011. On that day, the customs inspectors seized two cars belonging to Ukrainian citizens in which 4,690 packs of cigarettes were hidden (93,800 cigarettes). The customs inspectors levied fines of 10,000 lei.

Another major capture in the Siret Customs office took place on January 24th, 2011. Inspectors seized 22,200 cigarettes (1,100 packs of cigarettes) and levied five fines of approximately 25,000 lei for fraudulently crossing the border while carrying an amount of cigarettes which exceeded the legal limit. Five people were sanctioned (three Romanians and two Ukrainians), with the cigarettes being concealed on their bodies, in their luggage, under the seats and under the gas tank of the cars.

Food for thought: If this is what gets captured, what is the volume of contraband that gets across the border undisturbed? (C.D.)

• • Valer Marian (PSD), about the scandal of the arrests: "This is a fight between Igaş and Blaga"

The PSD senator of Satu Mare,Valer Marian, considers that the scandal of the arrests of the Siret customs point is nothing but one strike in the power struggle within the PDL as the extraordinary congress of the Party scheduled for the month of May grows near, bringing with it the elections for the party"s presidency.

The PSD senator recently accused the Minister of Administration and Internal Affairs Traian Igaş (PDL senator for the county of Arad and vice-president of the PDL organization of the county of Arad) of being involved in cigarette contraband on the South-West border and considers that the events which took place yesterday aren"t just coincidence. Valer Marian claims that Traian Igaş was actually looking to strike at the former Minister of Administration and Internal Affairs, Vasile Blaga, who, he claims, is very influential at the customs offices of the northern border, including Siret and Satu Mare. Valer Marian also considers that yesterday"s action by Traian Igaş is intended to improve the foreign image of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the context of the accession to the Schengen space.

The PSD senator considers that the blow dealt to Blaga (nicknamed "the Bulldog") comes as he seems to have a serious chance of winning the presidency of the PDL in a direct competition with Emil Boc.

Blaga also has the respect of the opposition, but his problem is precisely the fact that he has fallen out of favor with Traian Băsescu, in particular after the episode which took place this autumn, when thousands of policemen protested against the president.

In fact, this is precisely what led to Blaga being dismissed from his position as minister, and to the appointment of Traian Igaş in his stead, (nicknamed "the man of Falcă" within the PDL). Valer Marian claims that the current head of the National Customs Authority (ANV), Radu Mărginean, who also works as the vice-president of the ANAF, is also one of the men allegedly close to Blaga.

The PSD senator claims that the incident of the Customs Office of Halmeu, Satu Mare which took place isn"t coincidence, either. Several people, including two local businessmen and a female inspector of the customs office were arrested by the anti-corruption prosecutors under the charges of attempting to bribe the head of the National Customs Authority in order to appoint the inspector as head of the Halmeu customs office. (C.D.)

• • European officials: Romania"s and Bulgaria"s accession to the Schengen space threatens Europe"s security

• Tutilescu: The arrests of the Siret Customs were not intended as a show for our European partners

In January, French and German officials said that allowing Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area which includes 25 countries would be premature and threatens the security of the rest of Europe. "If the database of the Schengen Space were to fall into the hands of the international organized crime, the entire European internal security would be wiped out", Laurent Wauquiez, the French Minister for European Affairs said, referring to the database used by border patrols of the countries in the Schengen area.

Mr. Wauquiez said that the Romanian borders are not secure enough, and Romanian customs officers are prone to corruption, since they only earn 400 Euros a month. "They need to fix the issue of corruption: a Romanian customs officer makes 400 Euros a month", said Laurent Wauquiez, quoted by the daily La Croix.

In turn, the German Minister of Internal Affairs, Thomas de Maiziere said that for the moment, Germany is still against the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen Space. The minister of European affairs and immigration of Finland, Astrid Thors, said that while Bulgaria and Romania have shown some progress, they still need to take "concrete steps and step up their fight against crime and corruption".

The secretary of state in the Ministry of Administration and Internal Affairs (MAI), Marian Tutilescu, yesterday said that the arrests of the Siret Customs "wasn"t intended as a show or a campaign" to prove to Romania"s European partners that Romanian justice works, but rather it is part of the Anticorruption Strategy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Tutilescu said that he is aware of the fact that some of Romania"s European partners have expressed their doubts over Romania"s abilities to secure their borders, but said that yesterday"s intervention will be part of an ongoing campaign. According to the secretary of state, it is true that Romania"s partners may interpret the arrests of Siret as simply "putting on a show" and for that reason they need to be aware that in Romania, "the system works".

"Let"s be honest, illegal immigration affects our European partners a lot more than cigarette contraband does", Tutilescu said, who added that fighting cigarette contraband is in the interest of Romania and of its state budget.

When asked how the intervention of Siret will be perceived in Europe, Tutilescu said that he thinks the interpretations will be fair for the most part, but he wouldn"t rule out some interpretations along the lines of < Look how corrupt Romania is! >".

The members of the border patrols and the customs officers of the Border Crossing Point of Siret, arrested yesterday for acts of corruption and cigarette contraband, were transported yesterday to the headquarters of the National Anticorruption Department, where they were heard by the prosecutors.