Chief anticorruption prosecutor Kovesi awarded 'European of the Year' by Reader's Digest

Laura Codruta Kovesi, chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), has been designated 'European of the Year' in 2016 by the Reader's Digest magazine. She is the second Romanian recognized this way, after Iana Matei, chairman of the Reaching Out Romania foundation, in 2010. 

According to a release of Tarasgo Romania, owner of the Romanian edition of Reader's Digest, the award is a recognition of Kovesi's "courageous and sustained fight" against high level corruption. The February issue of all the European versions of the magazine includes a detailed profile of Kovesi, written by the Andrew Higgins of The New York Times. It follows her career since she was a basketball player and law student, through her early work as a public prosecutor, in her father's footsteps, and the release of the "biggest earthquake" in Romania's politics since the falling of Communism in 1989. 

Since Kovesi was appointed at the DNA in May 2013, the anticorruption prosecutors have indicted one former prime minister, dozens of members of the Parliament, judges and business tycoons, the aforementioned release mentions. In January-September 2015 only, the DNA has indicted more than 800 people, including four ministers, ten city mayors, nine county council chairpersons and 14 incumbent or former MPs. The institution was recognized in a report of the European Commission for its "uninterrupted results" in the fight against corruption. 

The DNA currently has nearly 120 prosecutors working on 6,000 cases; 90 percent of the past indictments have resulted in guilty verdicts. It had a public confidence level of 61pct in a September 2015 INSCOP Research opinion poll, against only 12pct for the Parliament.AGERPRES