Romania’s Chief of Police Catalin Ionita resigned on Tuesday, June 26, over personal reasons. The Interior Ministry appointed Ioan Buda, the former Chief of Customs Police, to replace him.

Catalin Ionita has been Chief of Police since January 17. He was appointed for a 6-month period after a major scandal between former PM Mihai Tudose and the interior minister, local Mediafax reported. The prime minister refused to endorse the appointment but after the senior ruling party withdrew his political support and eventually replaced him, the situation settled.

Ioan Buda has 28-year experience in the Interior Ministry and in 2015-2016 was deputy interior minister and chief of the department for public order and security, also coordinating the Romanian Police. His name has been involved in several big scandals over the years, local Digi24 reported. In 2011, a border police officer held for bribery said some of the bribes collected by the officers reached the Border Police head. Moreover, last year, a photo appeared in the local media showing the head of the Border Police’s control department begging on his knees in front of several higher-ranking officers, including Ioan Buda. This episode apparently happened in 2013.

editor@romania-insider.com