Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc has discharged the Romanian Police head Petre Toba and Interior Ministry state secretary Dan Valentin Fatuloiu, following two controversial corruption scandals, according to newswire Mediafax.

Interior Minister Traian Igas submitted to Boc the propositions to replace Fatuloiu, head of the Interior Ministry's Department for Public Order and Safety, with Liviu Popa, head of the General Anticorruption Department, and Toba with Ioan Dascalu, attaché for domestic matters with the Romanian Embassy in the UK.

The request to discharge Toba came in the wake of an incident in Piatra Neamt, northeastern Romania, involving underworld leaders Gheorghita and Bogdan Mararu and local police head Aurelian Soric. Fatuloiu went to Piatra Neamt soon after the scandal had broken out and proposed Igas to sack Soric for faulty management.

Fatuloiu, in turn, is tied to the most controversial and notorious top-level corruption scandal within the Romanian Interior Ministry. Fatuloiu, alongside his son Alexandru (administrator of six companies, e.n.), reported businessman Catalin Chelu to the National Anticorruption Department (DNA), arguing the latter tried to offer EUR 1 million bribe in exchange for solving a series of cases in his favor.

Mediafax