Romania's top general under investigation for suspected corruption

Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors said ​on Tuesday they had ​opened a criminal investigation ‌against General ​Gheorghita Vlad, the Army's Chief of Staff, on suspicion that he abused his ‌power to unlawfully secure state-funded college seats. The European Union kept Romania's justice system under special monitoring after it joined the bloc in 2007 ⁠but the pace of anti-graft investigations slowed after this was lifted in 2023.

Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors said ​on Tuesday they had ​opened a criminal investigation ‌against General ​Gheorghita Vlad, the Army's Chief of Staff, on suspicion that he abused his ‌power to unlawfully secure state-funded college seats. Vlad, the highest-ranking active military officer in Romania, declined comment on Tuesday. The defence ministry said it ‌was cooperating but could not comment without interfering with the ‌investigation.

The prosecutors said in a statement that Vlad was under investigation for aiding and abetting a second in command to demand that an additional ⁠20 ​state-funded college ⁠seats be given to the defence ministry in 2025, overstepping their job remit. The ⁠ministry has a few state-funded places allotted each year at several ​educational institutions such as the College of Physical Education in ⁠Bucharest.

Transparency International has repeatedly ranked Romania as one of the European Union's ⁠most ​corrupt states. The European Union kept Romania's justice system under special monitoring after it joined the bloc in 2007 ⁠but the pace of anti-graft investigations slowed after this was lifted in 2023. ⁠The ⁠judiciary has delivered some high-level acquittals that have raised concerns that the Romanian authorities' fight against corruption ‌has ‌lost momentum.