Romania Stages New Attempt to Seize Illegal Assets

Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Wednesday announced plans to launch new legislation to make the confiscation of assets obtained through corruption easier - part of Romania's ongoing efforts to tackle high-level graft.

"We want to create an agency tasked with identifying and making use of goods that have been confiscated. Moreover, want a law that would allow the authorities to immediately use or take ownership of assets such as buildings already confiscated by a court ruling," Ponta said.

"Buildings could be used for medical and education purposes or given to public institutes, saving the state rent money," he added.

The Justice Minister is to issue a draft law by the end of this month.

In recent years, Romania has intensified efforts to tackle the widespread problem of corruption. While the number of high-ranking officials sentenced for graft has increased significantly, the country failed to solve the illegal wealth issue.

Last year, courts ordered the confiscation of assets worth 310 million euro in high-profile corruption cases, but authorities recovered only around 10 per cent of that amount.

Bucharest is hoping that the signs of anti-graft progress, which have been noted by the European Commission, will assist Romania's bid to join the EU's borderless Schengen zone.