USR parliamentarians submitted a draft law that tightens the sanctions for the heads of public institutions that do not recover the damages found by the Court of Accounts.
The initiative is signed by USR deputies and senators Oana Murariu, Stelian Ion, Alexandru Dimitriu, Dumitru Văduva, Simona Spătaru and Ciprian Rus.
According to the project, the heads of public institutions that do not have the necessary measures for the recovery of damages or do not pursue their application could be punished with imprisonment from one to five years.
USR: the current law allows the avoidance of liability
The initiators claim that the current form of the Law of the Court of Accounts makes it very difficult to hold the persons in charge of public institutions accountable.
According to the USR, the law currently provides that criminal liability can only occur if two conditions are met simultaneously: the management of the institution does not order the measures established by the Court of Accounts and, at the same time, does not pursue their application.
In practice, say the initiators, it is enough for a public manager to formally order certain measures to avoid criminal liability, even if the damage is not recovered.
“More than 758 million lei represent the damage to the Romanian state discovered by the Court of Accounts in just one year. Why does the state not recover this money? Because no one answers to the law anymore“, declared USR deputy Oana Murariu.
Greater penalties and a ban from holding leadership positions
The draft stipulates that it can constitute a crime both to disobey the measures established by the Court of Accounts and to not follow through on their application.
Also, the initiators want to eliminate the possibility of applying a simple criminal fine and increase the punishment limits from the current interval of three months – one year of imprisonment to one – five years of imprisonment.
In addition, the draft also introduces the possibility of banning the occupation of management positions in public institutions for persons convicted of such acts.
