The Constitutional Court’s ruling on abuse of office

Romania's Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that abuse of public office should remain a criminal offence

Bogdan Matei, 16.06.2016, 15:54

The Court, however, narrowed the definition of abuse of public office, saying it should apply to cases where public servants actually broke the law rather than where they caused harm by not doing their jobs properly. The decision has been unanimous, is final and compulsory. The Constitutional Courts interim president, Valer Dorneanu, has explained that in no way has the abuse of office been decriminalised, while his colleague, Petre Lazaroiu, has said a clarification of the terms was really necessary.

Petre Lazaroiu: “The judge must establish if the law has been broken. Previously, the definition of abuse of office was open to interpretation. It certainly needed to be clarified.

Wednesday’s ruling came in response to a case launched by several indicted officials who wanted abuse of office to be decriminalised. Among them, former head of the Direction for the Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism, Alina Bica, and several former county council presidents, such as Nicusor Constantinescu and Bunea Stancu. Also on Wednesday, Constitutional Court judges ruled that the article of the special Law that regulates the functioning of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate is constitutional.

Previously, the institutions chief Laura Codruta Kovesi has warned that decriminalising abuse of office would block 800 cases under investigation. Moreover, this would make it impossible for authorities to recover hundreds of millions of euros in damages, which stood at 620 millions last year alone. Moreover, the head of the International Anti – Corruption Academy, Martin Kreutner, has said that Romanias current legislation in the field is `recognised by the international bodies.

I hope that the Courts decision clarifies and eases the course of justice in Romania, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has said.