The first PNL leader to jump to Cătălin Predoiu's defense in the Justice scandal

The leader of PNL Iași, deputy Alexandru Muraru, said on Friday, on RFI, that the former Minister of Justice, Cătălin Predoiu, in whose mandate the last changes were made to the laws of justice, in 2022, cannot be blamed for what the magistrates do in the judicial system.

“I don't want to absolve anyone of moral guilt and so on. At the moment, he is in the USA, he will return in the next few days, but I want to tell you that his lordship exercised his mandate as Minister of Justice at a time when Romania had those open obligations for over 15 years, on that Cooperation and Verification Mechanism and on that calendar in the PNRR. So basically, Minister Predoiu's task was to bring before the Parliament a legislative package that was requested by the Commission”, said Muraru, quoted by the RFI radio website.

The vice-president of the PNL stated that there is a need for a differentiation between the legal framework and how the law is actually applied by the magistrates.

“We have to distinguish between that legislative framework in the field of justice, which was considered at the time compatible with EU standards regarding the independence of the judicial system and the fight against corruption, and from here on, from this package of justice, which allowed the closure of the MCV, the fulfillment of the milestones of the PNRR and even Romania's integration into Schengen, to talking about what actually happens in the courts and how they are applied by the actors of the judicial system,” Muraru said.

Asked if he claims that, in fact, Cătălin Predoiu is not to blame, in the context of the revelations in the Recorder documentary, the leader of the liberals showed that the magistrates have a greater responsibility.

“(…) I want to tell you that any type of accusation or suspicion from my point of view is much smaller and their size must be reduced in relation to what those who actually led the destinies of Justice did, and I mean those who led the CSM, those who led the main courts, the High Court, the Bucharest Court of Appeal, those who hold the leadership positions (…). So what the magistrates did within the system cannot be blamed on Mr. Delivery”.

“The PNL is much less to blame than the PSD”

Asked who should answer politically in the context of the judicial scandal caused by the Recorder documentary, Muraru said that, in his opinion, the PSD created the opportunities “for the prescription of the facts, for the annulment of the evidence and the retrial of the cases”.

“It is a T0 moment, which from my point of view involves two things: institutional and political assumptions and legislative changes. But I would say that the PNL is much less to blame in relation to the PSD, because the PSD has governed Romania most of the time in the last three decades and the main things that allowed it to intervene in the judiciary were to appoint favorable ministers of justice, to influence the legislation and to exert constant pressure”, the PNL leader claimed Iasi.

He criticized, in a post on Facebook, the attitude of the heads of the Court of Appeal, while Thursday's press conference was an “institutional self-exposure that produced a genuine shock in Romanian society”.

“The reactions of the CAB leadership brought to the surface reflexes of late communist type: disdain for questions, suspicion of the press, appeal to formal authority instead of explanations and the use of intimidation as a tool of control. Instead of a natural dialogue, the public witnessed a demonstration of symbolic force, incompatible with the idea of ​​modern justice and sufficient to explain why many magistrates choose silence,” Muraru pointed out.