Security chiefs quit in Romania debacle

ROMANIA: Romania's top prosecutor resigned yesterday, following the example of the country's three intelligence chiefs, after a man suspected of arranging the kidnapping of journalists in Iraq vanished during his release from jail for medical treatment.

Omar Hayssam, a Syrian-born businessman, was accused of arranging the kidnapping of three Romanian reporters in Baghdad so that he could broker their release and win a reprieve from charges of financial crimes he was facing in Bucharest.

The plan went awry when the journalists ended up in the hands of a more militant group, which threatened to kill them unless Romania pulled its 800 troops out of Iraq.

They were ultimately freed by Romanian intelligence agents last May, 55 days after being kidnapped, following protests in their homeland demanding their release.

Mr Hayssam, who denies all wrongdoing, was freed from pre-trial detention in April for cancer treatment and subsequently failed to turn up at a court hearing. Police say they now have no idea where he is.

Secret service chief Radu Timofte, foreign intelligence service boss Gheorghe Fulga and Virgil Ardelean, the head of the interior ministry's intelligence unit, all quit late on Thursday after meeting President Traian Basescu to tell him about the debacle. "After the meeting, they decided to resign. Their request was accepted by the president," said Mr Basescu's spokeswoman.

Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu welcomed the resignations, saying that Mr Hayssam should have been under strict surveillance after being released from jail. "What happened should not have been a surprise" for the secret services, Mr Tariceanu said, referring to Mr Hayssam's disappearance.

Romania's prosecutor-general, Ilie Botos, handed in his resignation yesterday.

Analysts said that the case was embarrassing for Romania, which is trying to meet EU demands to modernise its security services, but it may have a silver lining. The four men who resigned were all appointed by Mr Basescu's predecessor, a former communist who presided over years of corruption and showed little desire to reform the security services.

"Hayssam's case is having a snowball effect," said Alina Mungiu-Pippidi of the think-tank Societatea Academica Romana. "This wave of resignations is very positive for Romania."