Most business people in Romania support the anti-corruption fight because they have realized that they can’t attract foreign partners unless they are correct and respect the law, said yesterday Mihai Daraban, president of Romania’s Trade and Industry Chamber (CCIR), reports local Agerpres.

Daraban, who spoke at a seminar organized in partnership with the U.S. Embassy, said that the U.S. has a law from 1977 which provides that U.S. business people guilty with corruption deeds outside U.S. are penalized with huge fees. He mentioned the fine of USD 180 million paid by the concern Hewlett-Packard, after it was proved that the company had acted illegally in relation to the Polish authorities.

Daraban added: “We’ve attracted in this project the firm General Dynamics, which is the fifth largest weaponry producer in the world, but has an anti-corruption department. (...) We have to learn from them.”

He said that surveys have shown that 65% of the business people in Romania approve the actions of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA). He added that the biggest problem in Romania’s business environment is the access to public tenders.

“You can’t create a law to favor the Romanian capital in a European Union with competition laws and so on. But you need to offer the Romanian capital the chance to take part in public tenders,” he said.

editor@romania-insider.com