Romania's tax authority ANAF has a new director, Gelu Ştefan Diaconu, former state secretary with the Economy Ministry. He replaced Serban Pop,who was dismissed from the helm of the ANAF at the beginning of this week after a discussion with PM Victor Ponta. Diaconu was the head of Romania's Customs Administration between 2005 and 2009,and also vice-president of ANAF. In 1996, he was accused of having forged a credit file while being director of Bankcoop Neamt.

The change at the helm of ANAF seems to be motivated by political reasons, as the Government has not yet given any reasons for the dismissal. Pop had taken over the seat from Sorin Blejnar in spring last year during the Government led by Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, after a performance review. Blejnar went on to be accused of tax evasion.

ANAF collected some EUR 6 billion in taxes to the state budget in the first three months of the year, 6.5 percent above what had been planned for the year. The increase came from higher VAT and income tax revenues.

editor@romania-insider.com