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The chief prosecutor of the DNA, Laura Codruţa Kovesi, yesterday had a meeting with Justice Minister Tudorel Toader, after which she stated that she wasn't going to resign as head of the DNA nor was she asked to.
The visit of the chief-prosecutor of the DNA at the Ministry of Justice was preceded by another important meeting - that of US ambassador Hans Klemm, who said that he has ensured the current justice minister of the US' ongoing interest in supporting its efforts to continue the fight against corruption.
"I have no reason to resign", said Kovesi, upon exiting the meeting with the Justice Minister, which lasted about an hour.
"This has been a discussion that I don't want to give too many details on, you will find out more after this stage is over (...) The only thing that was discussed was the activity of the DNA", said Kovesi, in response to journalists' enquiries and she said: "You will probably find out the rest of the details from the minister".
The US ambassador in Bucharest, Hans Klemm, said: "I only came here to introduce myself to the Justice minister. We had a very good discussion about the history of the cooperation between the US and Romania.
I have assured the minister about the continuing interest of my country in supporting his efforts to strengthen the rule of law in Romania and of course, to continue the fight against corruption".
PSD, through the voice of senator Şerban Nicolae, has announced last night, on Antena 3, that Klemm's visit was not a coincidence. Şerban also criticized Tudorel Toader for turning the analysis of the heads of the two prosecutor offices, by constantly announcing the time left until the end of the evaluations. Şerban Nicolae said: "I don't believe in these kinds of coincidences, with Laura Codruţa Kovesi getting to the minister of Justice after Hans Klemm was there. I think that Mrs. Kovesi needs to answer to the public. I think that Hans Klemm went there to discuss his opinion on the situation of Kovesi. Tudorel Toader shouldn't have kept announcing how many days were left until the completion of the evaluation".
Sources close to the Ministry of Justice, quoted by the online press, said that during the meeting between Hans Klemm and Tudorel Toader, the issue of the chief prosecutor and of the chief-prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption were also discussed, but only tangentially.
The Minister of Justice was supposed to present the two studies yesterday, but in the morning, even before the meeting with the US Ambassador, he announced that he would postpone their public presentation until Wednesday.
• The Minister of Justice about the evaluation of the heads of the PICCJ and the DNA: "I will provide the full details on Wednesday"
The conclusions of the assessment of the activity of general prosecutor Augustin Lazăr and of the head of the National Anticorruption Department (DNA) Laura Codruţa Kovesi, will be presented on March 29th, in a press conference, justice minister Tudorel Toader announced yesterday.
"We have made all the evaluations, the 14 days have elapsed just last night. I will prorogate the deadline by two days, as I was in Brussels. Today (ed. note: yesterday) I will have a meeting with the US ambassador, I will be going to Brussels again. On Wednesday, around noon, I will be organizing a press conference (...) and I will give you all the details", the minister said.
On March 12th, the minister of Justice announced that he would make an evaluation of the activity of the Prosecutors' office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the National Anti-corruption Department. "Through my colleagues of the Ministry of Justice, I will present an argumentation, an evaluation of the activities conducted by the Public Ministry, on one hand, with the National Anti-Corruption Department, on the other. And then, the evaluation will have two components: on one hand, the professional one, concerning the cases they have worked on, and on the other hand their management of their respective institutions. Once I've talked with them I will be making this two-pronged evaluation, I will decide on the measures that I will take and will announce my decision to the press", Tudorel Toader was saying at the time.
On March 12th, the current justice minister announced that he would talk to general prosecutor Augustin Lazăr and separately, to general prosecutor of the DNA Laura Codruţa Kovesi, about the investigation concerning Emergency Government Ordinance 13, considering that the law has been broken, according to the decision of the Constitutional Court, and hinted that he wouldn't rule out the option of "the two resigning by then".
Liviu Dragnea said on Wednesday night, on Antena 3, that he would support the Minister of Justice, Tudorel Toader, regardless of the decision he would make, saying that the minister's approach needs to be "honest, well argued and fair".
Prime-minister Sorin Grindeanu recently said, speaking about the Justice Minister's evaluation of the activity of general prosecutor Augustin Lazăr and DNA head Laura Codruţa Kovesi, that he has "great confidence" in Tudorel Toader.
• Băsescu accuses Kovesi of being part of an organized crime faction, together with Livia Stanciu and Florian Coldea
Traian Băsescu yesterday made extremely serious statements against DNA head Laura Codruţa Kovesi, accusing her of being part of an organized crime faction, together with Livia Stanciu and Florian Coldea, according to RTV.
The former president said: "This is an organized crime faction created by the K2 group. That's where they would choose who would stay alive, and who would get executed. They were against politicians. The criminal faction was made up of Livia Stanciu, Laura Codruţa Kovesi and Florian Coldea. That faction wanted to take control of the Romanian state and was supported by barefaced Hans Klemm. Several individuals think they can put pressure on the Romanian Parliament. The High Court and the DNA being partners is a statement that Mrs. Livia Stanciu made in February 2015. If that had happened during my term, I would have signed the decree to dismiss her immediately. I don't know what the minister of Justice talked about with the ambassador. The fact that Tudorel Toader postponed the conclusions by two days shows that the ambassador is getting involved to an unacceptable level in the decisions made by the Constitutional Court. In the US judges have turned Trump into a punching bag. Over here, a small-fry state employee goes directly to the minister. It would be a major humiliation if he didn't achieve his objective. If Toader's spine went soft after the visit of a small-time clerk, Romania can redefine itself. That didn't happen during my term. Article 80 states that the responsibilities of the president involve upholding the Constitution. We have the decision of the CCR which states that two public sector employees have violated the Constitution. Iohannis shouldn't have even needed the report of the Justice Minister.
Maybe tomorrow another precedent is set and we get this mutt Klemm or whatever his name is come in again, and then that precedent gets swept under the rug. The same way he went to talk to the chief prosecutor of the DNA and the general prosecutor he can go to the prime-minister or the president. The first time that such a conflict was launched between the powers of the state it is acknowledged by the CCR as well. We can't say that the conclusions of the CCR are made for the future. If they are swept under the rug, we can just call it quits. This sets a precedent of incredible gravity".
• Tăriceanu: "Kovesi should resign for her extremely serious violation of the Constitution"
The president of the Senate, Călin Popescu Tăriceanu, said that he stands by his opinion that the head of the DNA, Laura Codruţa Kovesi, should have resigned following the decision of the Constitutional Court, which found that the DNA interjected in the activity of the Executive.
"I'm going to tell you what I said before: after the decision of the Constitutional Court, which sanctioned severely the intervention of the DNA in the activity of the government - which as you know is unprecedented not just in Romanian politics, but also in Europe, which is something I have found out during my talks with my European peers, Parliament presidents, about a week ago in Rome - all of them have been shocked - I said it would have been normal after such a gesture that proves, eventually - not ignorance of the fundamental elements of the constitution, but other things - that Mrs. Kovesi should hand in her resignation. I haven't changed that opinion, because we are talking about a serious violation of the Constitution", the ALDE leader said on Sunday, on Digi24.
He also said that the head of the DNA endorsing such an action also involves her accepting the responsibility for it.
"A prosecutor taking a certain stance is a serious matter. As chief prosecutor of the DNA, when you endorse such an action, you take on a certain responsibility. And that wasn't just any action, as I was saying, it was - like I said before - a serious violation of the principle of the separation of powers estates in the state, an unacceptable interference of a component of the judiciary in the exercising of power by the Executive".
Tăriceanu said that there was nothing illegal about the provisions of Emergency Government Ordinance 13, but instead, they have defined abuse in office according to the requirements of the Venice Commission. "Whereas in terms of public communication or of actions that create emotions we know what has happened, legally there hasn't been anything wrong because it would have been sanctioned by the Constitutional Court. (...) It did not try the case on its merits, but in the end it did issue a ruling in a way, because there was the notification I sent to the Constitutional Court, which concerned the action of the DNA, which was - obviously - called a serious abuse, as you know. (...) The action of the DNA essentially came as a sanction to some alleged mistaken behavior of the Government. Which did nothing wrong because - in terms of the point of view of the provisions of the ordinance - there was nothing illegal. That some people have exaggerated and said: «Oh, they're decriminalizing abuse in office», which in fact wasn't being decriminalized, rather it was defined according to the requirements of the Venice Commission - was something else. But surely, in the end we need to realize: in politics we're dealing with perceptions, rather than realities, unfortunately", Tăriceanu concluded.
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