The Higher Court of Cassation and
\nJustice in Romania on Tuesday made a ruling with major effects on cases
\nsubjected to a limitation period. Under the court’s ruling this limitation is
\nto be applied retroactively according to the most favourable law. The court ruled
\nthat there were no interruptions in limitation for four years between June
\n2018, when the first ruling of the Constitutional Court (CCR) had come into
\neffect, and May 2022, when the Penal Code was amended also under a CCR ruling. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The special limitation allowed
\nprosecutors to interrupt its course on the base of new evidence or by bringing
\nthe offender to court as a defendant. According to some legal sources, the
\nSupreme Court ruling is going to affect thousands of cases pending in courts or
\nunder investigation allowing the culprits to avoid sentences or charges thanks
\nto this limitation. The list includes famous cases such as that of former
\nminister Elena Udrea, who has been a constant presence in courts for the past 8
\nyears, since the end of the second term in office of former president Traian
\nBasescu, considered her protector. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Currently serving a prison sentence
\non corruption charges, the former minister has also been involved in another
\ntwo pending cases. The first case concerns the funding of president Basescu’s 2009
\nelection campaign, when Udrea got an 8 year prison sentence for bribery
\nincitement and money laundering. The former president’s eldest daughter, Ioana
\nBasescu, has also been given a five year prison sentence in the same file. The court dealing with this pending case
\nadjourned until December this year, one month after the Supreme Court ruling. Udrea
\nis also being tried in the ‘Hidroelectrica’ file on several charges, such as
\ninfluence peddling and money laundering for having allegedly received five
\nmillion dollars from a businessman. Among
\nthe offenders benefitting from limitation are the former Liberal president of
\nthe Chamber of Deputies, Bogdan Olteanu and Adrian Mititelu, owner of Romanian
\nfootball side UCraiova 1948. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Courts adjourned in many other cases
\nuntil the aforementioned ruling and these cases will probably be closed. Among
\nthose to benefit the latest ruling on limitation are the former mayor of the
\ncity of Pitesti, in southern Romania, Social-Democrat Tudor Pendiuc, the ex-PSD
\nnow Liberal mayor of the city of Iasi, in northern Romania, Mihai Chirica, or
\nthe former PSD minister Constantin Nita. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The latest ruling on limitation has
\nmade some people very happy. These are usually business people, mainly charged
\nwith embezzlement and misappropriation, as well as leading political figures
\naccused of influence peddling, bribery and abuse of office with aggravating
\ncircumstances. Most of the cases likely
\nto be closed after the latest Supreme Court ruling, have been dragging on for
\nyears. Is this only the merit of lawyers or the consequence of the investigators’
\nincompetence? <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Supreme Court ruling could definitively put an end to famous pending cases in Romania<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":82962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[31651,29386,32006,31191,36798],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-93563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-court","tag-psd","tag-ruling","tag-sentence","tag-udrea"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n