Former anti-organized crime police chief Traian Berbeceanu joins PNL

Traian Berbeceanu, former chief of the Organized Crime Brigade in Alba, currently head of office of Interior Minister Marcel Vela, has joined the National Liberal Party, Deva organisation.

“Traian Berbeceanu, former chief of the Alba Organized Crime Brigade, sent in prison several criminals from Alba, Hunedoara and Sibiu. After that, Berbeceanu was involved in a file about which the mass media reported it would have been forged by the Alba DIICOT prosecutors. In June 2016, Traian Berbeceanu was acquitted in a first court for several charges. In exchange, Ioan Mureşan (former chief prosecutor of DIICOT Alba) and Nicolaie Ioan Cean (former prosecutors within the same directorate) were sentenced to 7 years in prison, and 2 years respectively. They are accused of committing several irregularities in investigating police officer Traian Berbeceanu”, reads a PNL press release.

Berbeceanu was charged with money laundering, bribe taking, forgery and setting up an organized criminal group in that file, but subsequent investigation revealed that the case had been framed to him in order to block his own investigations into the the local organized crime groups.

Berbeceanu had to resign from the helm of the Organized Crime Brigade Alba in 2013. He was even arrested from October 24, 2013 until November 26, 2013. More precisely, he had been accused of supporting a criminal group suspected of tax evasion with oil products, with a prejudice mounting to over EUR 3.5 M.

Berbeceanu was awarded the “Policeman of the Year” on countering organized crime in 2007 and 2013.