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Romania Ousts Chief Anti-Graft Prosecutor


FILE - Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and Laura Codruta Kovesi, the chief of anti-corruption prosecutor, stand at the beginning of the anti-corruption agency's annual report, in Bucharest, Romania, Feb. 28, 2018.
FILE - Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and Laura Codruta Kovesi, the chief of anti-corruption prosecutor, stand at the beginning of the anti-corruption agency's annual report, in Bucharest, Romania, Feb. 28, 2018.

President Klaus Iohannis has fired Romania’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor over misconduct and incompetence accusations by her own government ministry, but has urged the struggle against rampant graft in the country to continue.

In a Monday announcement, his office says that National Anti-Corruption Directorate Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi was dismissed to implement a ruling by Romania’s top court, which had ordered it over the accusations of incompetence.

In a February report, Justice Minister Tudorel Toader had accused Kovesi of being authoritarian, and claimed that prosecutors under her command had falsified evidence and acquitted an inordinate number of defendants. He also accused Kovesi of harming Romania’s image in interviews with foreign journalists.

Kovesi, who has been widely praised for prosecuting senior officials, refuted his accusations.

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