The head of the Bucharest Court of Appeal accuses pressure from the DNA in a case of Lia Olguța Vasilescu: “She told me what solution I have to give”
The president of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, judge Liana Arsenie, claims that a former DNA prosecutor, currently subordinate to Laura Codruța Kovesi at the European Public Prosecutor's Office, would have explicitly asked her to give a certain solution in a case involving Lia Olguța Vasilescu.
President of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, judge Liana Arsenie PHOTO: Inquam photos/ Gyozo Baghiu
The head of the Bucharest Court of Appeal said that the prosecutor Elena Grecu, when she was working at the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, allegedly tried to influence the solution in a criminal case opened in the name of the social democrat Lia Olguța Vasilescu.
According to Lia Arsenie, Elena Grecu would have personally come to her office to request the High Court of Cassation and Justice to decline the jurisdiction of the case, which would have led to the file being moved from the Bucharest Court of Appeal to the supreme court.
“He told me what solution I had to give”
The judge states that she categorically refused this intervention and that she kicked the DNA prosecutor out of the office. Moreover, he claims that the pressure did not stop there, and later his recusal would have been requested, in order to be removed from the court panel.
“The purpose of the visit was to claim a solution. For me, it is a landmark moment of my career; I have never been put in this position either before or after. The prosecutor came to the office and told me what solution I have to give! It is shocking for a judge who is free.
There were enormous pressureswhich continued the next day, in the court session. The need of the prosecutor to obtain the rejection of the case to the ICCJ… The prosecutor refused to obey the decisions of the president of the session.
Such intervention by any magistrate is excluded. The solution is pronounced by the panel of judges. I reported the case to the management of the Bucharest Court of Appeal. A colleague warned me that I will see what happens to me“, said Liana Arsenie, in a telephone interview with Romania TV.
Repeated pressures, claims the head of the CAB
Liana Arsenie also stated that this would not have been the only moment in her career when she was asked to pronounce certain solutions in pending cases.
The file in which the incident allegedly took place was opened in 2016 and closed in 2020. The case concerned Lia Olguța Vasilescu, then mayor of the municipality of Craiova, accused of having asked some businessmen to sponsor an NGO for the rehabilitation of the facades of the blocks in the city center. The investigation claimed that the money would have been used for the election campaign.
The case closed for lack of evidence
Lia Olguța Vasilescu was investigated for using influence to obtain money, goods or other improper benefits, bribery and money laundering. Finally, the case prosecutor ordered the closure of the case, reasoning that there was no evidence to show that the mayor “would have conditioned the performance of the Craiova City Hall contracts in good conditions on the effectiveness of the sponsorships“.
