Prime Minister Victor Ponta has been accused of copying large sections of his 2003 PhD thesis in law from previous publications, without proper reference. If the charges are substantiated, they could spark public pressure for Ponta to resign, say political insiders. The allegations are also raising fresh doubts about the government’s ability to tackle corruption in the higher-education system.

Nature has seen documents compiled by an anonymous whistle-blower indicating that more than half of Ponta’s 432-page, Romanian-language thesis on the functioning of the International Criminal Court consists of duplicated text. Moreover, the thesis was republished with very minor amendments as a Romanian-language book in 2004, and also forms the basis of a 2010 book on liability in international humanitarian law. A former PhD student of Ponta’s, Daniela Coman, is named as co-author of the books.

http://www.nature.com/news/romanian-prime-minister-accused-of-plagiarism-1.10845

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/abgeschrieben-plagiatsvorwurf-gegen-rumaeniens-ministerpraesident-11790951.html

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