Clean Romania is placing corruption on the map and turning it into a “tourist attraction” by visiting, filming, photographing and popularizing the wealth of high ranking public officials, arrested and/or condemned for acts of corruption, urban projects that defy court decisions declaring them illegal or useless/oversized investments.
The guide of our first tour, which took place on Sunday, March 22nd, was Nicusor Dan, president of the Save Bucharest Association (Asociatia Salvati Bucurestiul). The tour was attended by leaders of organizations, curious citizens but also group initiative members and other citizens who are battling irregularities and abuse in Tineretului, Ciurel and Bucurestii Noi-Damaroaia, who got to speak about their struggles and the problems they encountered.
The chosen sights for this year’s tour were:
– former PM Adrian Nastase’s block in Zambaccian
– the villa built by Elena Udrea on Frederic Chopin Street
– real-estate in Floreasca
– illegal construction in Bucurestii noi and Damaroaia
– the Ciurel Bridge and expressway, an example of massive public spending without proper permits but with forced expropriation
– the Carol Davila villa built by former Justice Minister Valeriu Stoica and businessman Marius Locic
– the Basarab Passageway, an example of inflating the cost of publicly funded projects
– Buzesti/Berzei/Uranus and the former Matache Hall, where, for money, real-estate sharks bulldozed historic buildings
– the block next to St. Iosif Cathedral, which was declared illegal but was not demolished by authorities
– the burnt tower next to the Armenian Church which can collapse over it at any time
– Traian Basescu’s Mihaileanu house
– Prodvorului Street and the many abuses of real-estate sharks in the Lumea Copiilor Park
The “Clean Romania” is currently planning a “Tour of Grand Corruption Sites” in every region of the country.
The goal is to expose and give coverage to issues of public integrity, as well as to discuss the types of solutions sought after by civil society in fighting abuse of power.
We extend an invitation to all volunteers and romaniacurata.ro readers to take part in these actions and/or to organize visits to the public institutions most affected by corruption, or the sites of useless or financially oversized investments. “Tourist attractions” were selected in Bucharest and Cluj, but other locations will be chosen as well, based on feedback from our readers and journalists.
Owing to the success of our Bucharest tour, Clean Romania invites citizens to map other “tourist attractions” and help in showing the world where illegal wealth is, what the consequences of grand corruption are, how law-breaking deforms the historic look of our towns and, especially, how the poverty in our country is reflected in the wealth of the corrupt.
This action is undertaken as part of the „Developing capacity to monitor good government through the Alliance for a Clean Romania” project. The Romanian Academic Society, along with the Centre for Independent Journalism, the Pro.Do.Mo. Association, the Save Bucharest Association and the Vellenes Fellesorganisasjon (Norway) are looking to extend the good government monitoring activity done throught he Alliance for a Clean Romania portal.