Ex-LA Prosecutor Tries to Tackle Systemic Corruption in Moldova
- One of Europe’s poorest nations faces referendum on joining EU
- Dragalin says ‘corruption at a systemic level is very real’
Moldova’s top anti-corruption official says she has a staffing problem. Her office is well short of the full roster of prosecutors she needs to tackle graft in a nation that’s struggled for decades with endemic corruption.
Veronica Dragalin, a former US federal prosecutor who heads the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office, says almost a dozen staff resigned rather than confront the vetting process demanded by the European Union as part of Moldova’s bid to join the 27-nation bloc. That’s left her with 36 of the 59 prosecutors allotted to her by legislation.