There was an interesting new post about the Oscar-nominated documentary “Collective” that documents the recent struggle of Romanian judge Camelia Bogdan. The article was published at the Democracy Digest, the daily blog of the National Endowment for Democracy, which receives funding from the US government. Take a look at this excerpt:
A celebrated anti-corruption advocate known for countering money laundering, transnational corruption and other financial crimes, Bogdan is being threatened with expulsion from the judiciary for the third time for “failing to fulfill the criteria of having a good reputation” – which roughly translates as for “consistently exposing the nexus of corrupt oligarchs and former Communist secret police.” She is also being sued by Crescent, a company widely suspected of serving as a laundering operation for former Securitate operatives.
A judge on the Bucharest Court of Appeals and an expert on asset recovery, Bogdan presided over the case of high-profile oligarch Dan Voiculescu, a self-confessed Securitate collaborator, convicted in 2014 of money laundering and sentenced to ten years in prison. Released after only three years, Voiculescu, whose fortune is estimated at over 1.5 billion euros, has failed to comply with a court order to repay 100 million euros. Meanwhile, Bogdan, has been suspended from the judiciary – an example, she claims, of the clout of moguls like Voiculescu, Hockenos adds.
Read the full Democracy Digest article here or a New York Times review of the documentary here. Also see our section on World Democracy or our articles on Worldwide Corruption.
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