Romanian courts convicted two former ministers of corruption Tuesday in another move to show that it is taking corruption more seriously.  Decebal Traian Remes and Ioan Avram Muresan, both former ministers of agriculture, each received three year prison sentences.

Both Muresan, who served as agriculture minister from 1998 until 2000 and Remes, who was minister from April until October 2007, were found guilty of peddling their influence.

According to the verdict, Muresan arranged for Remes to receive €15,000 and food products like such as sausages and alcohol in exchange for a businessman to get preferential treatment in a public tender process.

After numerous trial interruptions, Bulgarian drug lord Zlatomir “Baretata” Ivanov was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison for organized crime activities. The Sofia City Court closed the high profile case with a guilty verdict for 11 of the 21 defendants, on charges of belonging to an organized crime group. Ivanov was found guilty of leading a group that engaged in drug trafficking and was suspected of plotting the 2007 murder of Rumen “Alf” Stefanov, a rival drug lord. Ivanov and his associates were acquitted on the murder charges.

After the Bulgarian authorities issued a nationwide search warrant for him in 2009, Ivanov turned himself in to police. His trial began in May 2010, and was marked with several interruptions. On October 22, 2010 one of the jurors, Petar Georgiev, was arrested for child pornography and the trial had to start anew a month later. The 107 witnesses and the 52 experts in the case were questioned again.

As the U.S. government budget faces cuts across agencies, one area that will actually grow is the fight against transnational organized crime, according to the Obama administration’s new budget proposal.

The White House’s proposed Fiscal budget for 2013 has a new budget line for Transnational Organized Crime Investigations unit, which would receive $3 million in its first year.

The money would finance the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center, established in 2009 as a central node for intelligence agencies to collaborate against transnational organized crime groups operating in the U.S.

Russian prosecutors are preparing to try Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky for fraud even though the lawyer died in detention two years ago.  Media is calling it the first ever trial after a suspect has died.  Russian authorities have resubmitted the case of Magnitskywhose death in prison at the hands of Russian authorities brought renewed attention to Russia’s record on human rights.

The accused was a lawyer for Hermitage Capital Management, which maintains that Magnitsky blew the whistle on the biggest tax fraud in Russian history, a single illegal refund of US$230 million.

Russian Interior Ministry Investigator Boris Kibis told Hermitage Capital Management that the ministry had “finished its preliminary investigation” and is ready to submit the case against Magnitsky posthumously and CEO William Browder in absentia, the London-based asset management firm said in a press release last week.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev vowed at a press conference on Monday to end the war between the Bulgarian judiciary and the police that has led to criticism by the European Commission (EC).  Following his first meeting as president with the leaders of the Bulgarian Army, Plevneliev announced that he would prepare an action plan which would ensure that all judicial reforms mandated by the European Union are concluded by 2013 so that Bulgaria would no longer be subject to monitoring by the EC.

Plevneliev was commenting on a February 8, 2012 EC report which criticized Bulgaria for failing to show progress on fighting organized crime and corruption. The report said problems with the independence and accountability of the judiciary persist, and said that cooperation between the judiciary, police and administrative institutions remains insufficient.

Serbian officials are preparing extradition paperwork for Luka Bojovic and three other Serbian gangsters who were arrested Thursday in Valencia, Spain. State secretary of Serbia's Justice Ministry Slobodan Homen told RTS that several countries might ask for Bojovic’s extradition, including Spain and the Netherlands, but that Serbia should have the priority.

Miljko Radisavljevic, the Serbian State Prosecutor for Organized Crime, told the newspaper Blic that Serbia will likely have priority to try the suspects first because the men hold Serbian citizenships and committed the gravest crimes in Serbia. Also sought are Vladimir Milisavljevic, Vladimir Mijanovic and Bosnian born Sinisa Petric.

Homen said that along with the extradition request, Serbia is sending Spanish authorities a 1,700 page report detailing the crimes allegedly committed by the four. He added that the suspects can be jailed while waiting for extradition for up to a year, but that he hopes the four men will be sent to Serbia in the next several months.

The men were arrested on Thursday evening in the eastern city of Valencia and Serbian Minister of Internal Affairs Ivica Dacic confirmed Bojovic’s identity on Friday. According to Serbian indictments, after the infamous Zemun crime clan collapsed under police pressure, Bojovic stepped in and recruited many of its members to join him, forming his own gang. Included were some of the clan’s most violent members. Milisavljevic is a suspect in the murder of the Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, while Petric is described as one of the gang’s hit men.

According to Blic who quoted a source in the Serbian Ministry of Interior one of Bojovic’s close associates, Milos Bata Petrovic, tipped off the Serbian police last November about Bojovic’s location. Petrovic, a Serbian national who ran an organized crime group based in the Netherlands, is currently in jail in that country for murder.

The Spanish authorities, in cooperation with the Serbian police and several other European countries, have been tracking Bojovic, 38, since November. When Milisavljevic traveled from Las Palmas, a Spanish territory on the Canary Islands (90 miles off the northwest coast of Africa) to Valencia to meet Bojovic, his boss, both were arrested.

Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that judge Fernando Andreu of Spain’s National Court ordered Bojovic, Milisavljevic, and Petric to be jailed for illegal possession of weapons, forged identification documents, belonging to an organized crime group and resisting arrest. The detained men are also suspected of being involved in more than 20 murders in several countries.

Bojovic and Petric were known to be members of the paramilitary group known as “Arkan’s Tigers” that committed war crimes in eastern Bosnia during the 1990s under the leadership of Zeljko “Arkan” Raznatovic. Arkan was killed in January 2000, and prosecutors believe Bojovic tried to kill rival gang leader Andrija Draskovic in an attempt to avenge Arkan’s death. Bojovic is also accused of trying to kill Zoran Nedovic and for murdering Branko “Jorga” Jeftovic and two body guards who died in the attacks.  Bojovic is currently on trial in Serbia for these crimes.

Read more about Luka Bojovic and his associates here.

The Spanish authorities confirmed today Luka Bojovic was among the four Serbian nationals arrested in Valencia, Spain on Thursday. Bojovic, the head of the infamous Zemun organized crime group, allegedly participated in over 20 murders in Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, and Spain. In September 2010, Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for Bojovic.

Serbian police were tipped off to Bojovic’s whereabouts from one of his close associates, Milos Bata Petrovic, who is currently in prison in the Netherlands. The Serbian police forwarded the information to the Spanish police, leading to Bojovic’s arrests after a yearlong joint operation between the Spanish and Serbian authorities. Petrovic was convicted for the murder of Srdan Miranovic, a close associate of Petrovic’s rival Sreten Jocic, known as “Joca Amsterdam.” Petrovic is regarded as one of the leaders of the Serbian mafia in the Netherlands.

In Serbia, Bojovic is on trial in absentia for the attempted murders of Andrija Draskovic and Zoran Nedovic, and the murders of Branko Jeftovic Jorga, Dejan Zivancevic and Milutin Jovicic in 2004. During the early 1990s, Bojovic was a member of the infamous 'Tigers' paramilitary group headed by indicted war criminal Zeljko “Arkan” Raznatovic. Arkan’s Tigers were involved in the ethnic cleansing of towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war there in the early 1990s.  Serbian prosecutors believe that Bojovic attempted to kill Draskovic and Nedovic, and murdered Jeftovic because of their alleged involvement in Arkan’s January, 2000 murder in Belgrade.

The European Commission (EC) took the Bulgarian government to task in a report issued this week detailing the country’s failure to reform its judicial system in accordance with recommendations proscribed in a July EC report. This was the EC’s most negative report on Bulgaria since the country joined the European Union in 2007.

The report began with the good news commending Bulgaria for putting into operation a new specialized Court and Prosecutor’s Office for organized crime, and a Commission for the Identification and Forfeiture of Criminal Assets. It also stated that Bulgaria has taken steps to improve judicial practices, the organization of the prosecutor’s office, and cooperation between courts, police and administrative authorities. However, the report said there has been no progress in other significant areas.

The EC report noted that the new draft law on asset forfeiture needs to be more comprehensive, and have strong institutional backing. Otherwise, the legislation will not be “effective in dissuading organized crime and high-level corruption.” The Bulgarian Parliament is currently debating the law which outlines the procedure for asset forfeiture prior to a conviction especially assets connected to organized crime.

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton urged Ukraine this week to resolve the case of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko as soon as possible. Tymoshenko’s daughter Eugenia testified last week before the US Senate subcommittee that her mother is ill and being tortured in prison. Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of power, in connection to an unfavorable gas sale contract with Russia in 2009. The contract damaged the Ukrainian state budget by US$180 million prosecutors said, but Tymoshenko did not personally gain from the contract.

Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych met in Munich last week with Clinton and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Yanukovych addressed the Tymoshenko case both in relation to the controversial gas contracts with Russia, as well as in the light of Ukraine’s integration into the European Union.

At a meeting of the European Parliament council in Vienna in January, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Ian Kelly, urged Ukraine to allow for an independent medical examination of Tymoshenko. At a press conference following the meeting with Clinton and Kissinger, Yanukovych said that Kyiv will welcome foreign doctors, as long as Tymoshenko stays in the country. Germany and Canada have offered to send medical staff to examine Tymoshenko.

The mayor of southern Russian city was arrested Thursday for extorting bribes from businessmen who sought to lease government-owned land.  Igor Bestuzhy, the mayor of Stavropol, allegedly demanded a bribe of 50 million rubles (US$1.6 million) from a businessman who wanted to lease five hectares of municipal land.

Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee, called on all businessmen who were extorted to come forward as witnesses.

According to the committee, Bestuzhy was caught when a businessman who planned to build a sport facility on the land prepared to deliver a bribe to aides for the mayor. The employees he sent to collect the money were arrested upon receiving the bribe. According to Markin, one of Bestuzhy’s accomplices confirmed that the mayor was the beneficiary.

On Friday, around one hundred residents gathered in Stavropol for a rally, after receiving the news that their mayor was arrested on corruption charges. The police broke up the rally after 20 minutes, saying that the event was not authorized, and threatening to use force if the protesters did not disperse.