Romania’s Evenimentul Zilei commented on the situation in Romania and Bulgaria after their EU accession.

The fall of communism in Romania produced a class of parvenus, who joined the local barons and conquered the political scene.
In Bulgaria, capital was divided between mafia groups getting even with their enemies trough murders, the report said as quoted by Bulgarian news agency BTA.

The victory of centrist Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria’s (CEDB) in the first members of European Parliament (MEP) elections in Bulgaria is a warning towards the ruling government. Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), currently in power, is being criticised for the lack of results in the fight against organised crime, the newspaper said.

Bulgarian mafia is a product of the country’s totalitarian past. The newspaper quotes chief expert at the Centre for Study of Democracy (CSD), Tihomir Bezlov who said that the failure of Bulgaria’s transition period and the war in former Yugoslavia favoured the development of gray economy.

Bulgarian mafia now has penetrated into legal economic sectors like tourism and construction.

EU is concerned that after the criminal groups have allocated their spheres of influence, they could spread out in other sectors.

More than 120 bombing attempts, 40 murders and 64 armed robberies were committed in Bulgaria in 2006, the newspaper said.

15:13 Tue 29 May 2007 http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/eus-nightmare-bulgarias-mafia-and-romanias-corruption–report/id_22771/catid_69

The National Interpol Office identified the Japanese citizen in the town of Galati, where he lived with his wife. He was arrested, early March, and extradited to Japanese authorities at the end of this week.

Takahiro Kawaguchi, aged 35, is the leader of a “shylock” group and a Yakuza pawn, according to information received by Romanian authorities from the Tokyo Interpol Office.

BUCHAREST, Mar 18 http://www.mediafax.ro/english/articole-free/Japanese-Mafia-Under-Boss-Arrested-In-Romania-636596-9.html

The suspect, Antonio Constantin, is suspected of being a senior member of the Sacra Corona Unita, a criminal group operating in southern Italy, said Paolo Sartori, a police liaison with the Italian embassy in Bucharest.

He was arrested in the Craiova, after having gone missing in Italy since March 2006 when a court there sentenced him for a 1991 murder and other charges, including belonging to a Mafia group, police said in a statement.

In Romania, he was using a false name and was involved in an import-export business for coffee products.

A court is expected to hold a hearing on whether to extradite him to Italy.

The Associated Press – Thursday, March 8, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/08/europe/EU-GEN-Romania-Italy-Fugitive.php

Authorities detained the four, two brothers and their wives, on Tuesday in the western city of Buzias, a few months after police began investigations, said Cornel Iures, spokesman for a local police brigade tasked with fighting organized crime.

Iures said the four began operating in 2003, when Romania was not part of the European bloc, in countries like France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands. Twenty accomplices in the Balkan country are also involved in the case, said Iures.

The suspects had allegedly trafficked several women to France and stolen electronic equipment in various countries that they later sold in Romania, which joined the EU on Jan. 1.

Romanian authorities cooperated with EU authorities into the case, Iures said, adding that investigations continue.

The Associated Press Published: January 24, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/24/europe/EU-GEN-Romania-Organized-Crime.php