Editor's note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the impact of corruption and various countries' efforts to combat it.
Barely noticed by a world preoccupied with crises ranging from migrants and refugees in Europe and fighting in Ukraine, to civil war in Syria and stock-market plunges in China, Romania put its prime minister on trial for corruption on Sept. 21. Victor Ponta, who stubbornly remains in office and denies all charges, stands accused of a range of activities largely committed before his tenure as premier, when he was working as a lawyer.
That the sitting head of government could be indicted and stand trial for corruption is widely seen as testament to the remarkable strength of Romania’s National Anti-corruption Directorate—the Directia Nationala Anticoruptie, or DNA—an independent agency that has investigated thousands of high-level corruption cases, bringing charges against some of the country’s most powerful politicians.