Laurentiu Baranga, former chief of the National Office for Prevention and Control of Money Laundering, has been placed on house arrest by the District 5 Court. He is investigated in a fraud case, after he had forging his high school diploma that he had obtained when he was 32 years old.
Judges had ruled on Sunday to place Baranga under arrest for fraud. He had been remanded for 24 hours after hours long hearings at his house in Ramnicu Valcea.
Baranga has resigned on Thursday, with the resignation being submitted to the Public Finance Ministry. He had been appointed as chief of the National Office for Prevention and Control of Money Laundering on September 4.
Laurențiu Baranga also worked in the past at the National Registry Office for Classified Information (ORNISS).
The Romanian Police, under the coordination of the Prosecutor’s Office upon the High Court of Cassation and Justice, have conducted searches at Baranga’s place on Saturday after he had been accused of having submitted to the hiring file falsified documents, misleading several public institutions.
The false diplomas had been dismissed by courts.
Policemen argue that, based on these forged diplomas, Baranga has taken a major position within a public institution and he is currently professor at some universities.
The prejudice in this case is mounting to RON 640,000 so far, representing gross indemnities received from these institutions where he was employed.