Supporters and
\ncritics of Social-Democrat strongman, Liviu Dragnea, gathered at the
\nheadquarters of the High Court of Cassation and Justice on Monday, expecting a
\nfinal ruling in the case involving the fictitious employment at the Teleorman
\nDirectorate General for Social Assistance and Child Protection. The Court will
\nissue a final ruling on May 27. The last court appearance was on Monday, and
\nthe National Anticorruption Directorate requested Dragnea be sentenced for
\nabetment to forgery in deeds as well, thus increasing his prison time. In June
\n2018 Liviu Dragnea was handed a 3 year and 6 months prison sentence for
\nabetment to abuse of office by the High Court of Cassation and Justice as the
\ncourt of first instance. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prosecutors provided evidence supporting the
\nallegation that the Social-Democrat leader helped fictitiously hire two persons
\nwho were members of the Social Democratic Party’s local organization at the
\nSocial Assistance Directorate during his time as head of the Teleorman County
\nCouncil. Although the two were working exclusively for the Social Democratic
\nParty, their salaries were paid from public money. Anticorruption prosecutors
\nclaim Liviu Dragnea coordinated and controlled the Directorate’s activity.
\nLiviu Dragnea did not appear before the Court this Monday, his lawyers trying,
\nto no avail, to obtain a new delay after June 5, when the Constitutional Court
\nis expected to rule on the three-judge panel system for the High Court. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nChamber of Deputies vice-president Florin Iordache referred a possible judicial
\nconflict between Parliament and the High Court of Cassation and Justice over
\nthe panels specializing in acts of corruption. Iordache claims the High Court
\nrefused to set up specialized panels, as the law stipulates regarding the
\nprevention, investigation and sanction of acts of corruption. The move was
\ninterpreted by Dragnea’s opponents and critics as a new attempt via his
\ncompliant aide to scrap Dragnea’s sentence in the fictitious employment case. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Also on Monday the former Social-Democrat Mayor of Constanta, Radu Mazare, was
\nextradited by the authorities in Madagascar, where he was trying to obtain
\npolitical asylum. Radu Mazare was sentenced to 9 years in prison in a case
\ninvolving the illegal assignment of plots of land, beaches and seafront in
\nConstanta, the biggest city on the Black Seacoast. A former journalist and
\npolitician and a controversial and eccentric public figure, Radu Mazare abused
\nhis office as mayor to serve his own interests. The former mayor has other
\nprison sentences issued in his name, some of which are not yet final. Radu
\nMazare is not the only former official who fled the country trying to dodge
\ncorruption trials. Former Minister Elena Udrea and the former head of the
\nNational Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, Alina
\nBica did the same, both of them now living in Costa Rica.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The trial of Social-Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea and the extradition of the former Social-Democrat mayor of Constanta, Radu Mazare, grabbed the headlines on Monday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":81891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[29993,29080,32861],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-81890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-corruption-cases","tag-liviu-dragnea","tag-radu-mazare"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n