The actions of anti-corruption prosecutors can have a sustainable effect only if they are complemented by preventive activities carried out by the competent institutions, Chief Prosecutor of the National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) Laura Codruta Kovesi on Tuesday told a conference organized in Brussels by the European Parliament.

“Our actions can only have a sustainable effect if they are doubled by preventive actions carried out by the other institutions and authorities of the state, the educational and business milieu,” Kovesi told the conference “Lessons to Learn from Romania: Exchange of Best Practices between Romania and Ukraine Anti-corruption Authorities.”

According to a DNA release, Laura Kovesi’s presentation included references to the specific of the agency, the results obtained in the past 10 years by the prosecutors in the fight against top corruption, the conditions that have made the institution’s activity possible and the constant support of the European Commission, but also mentioned the hindrances and vulnerabilities that jeopardize the proper functioning of the society and which can be removed by preventive action.

The DNA chief prosecutor said that proof of DNA’s efficiency over the past 10 years is given by the constant increase from one year to another of the number of successfully completed cases, the importance of the positions held by the investigated persons, the tripling of the number of people sent to court, the more than five time increase in the number of sentenced people or the conviction rate keeping steadily at over 90 percent.

Kovesi underscored that the agency she is heading is presented as one of five best practice examples in the EU, and that the efficient, objective and impartial nature of the investigations conducted by DNA prosecutors was remarked in the annual reports produced by EU experts under the Cooperation and Verification, Mechanism, the release said.