The High Court annulled the conviction of former PSD minister Dan Șova. “The facts are prescribed”

The High Court of Cassation and Justice (ÎCCJ) canceled on Tuesday the three-year suspended prison sentence that former PSD senator Dan Șova had received in the “CET Govora” file, in which he was accused of influence peddling, according to Agerpres.

Șova had been sentenced to three years in prison with execution, in June 2018, but he was released from the penitentiary after only six months, because his sentence was canceled based on a decision by which the Constitutional Court found the illegality of the formation of panels of five judges from the ÎCCJ.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal sentenced him to four years in prison with execution, upon retrial, in November 2021, but on appeal the ÎCCJ changed the sentence to one of three years with suspension.

Șova appealed the ÎCCJ's decision through an appeal in cassation, an extraordinary way of appeal, and the ÎCCJ won her case on Tuesday, on the grounds that the facts were time-barred.

The decision to confiscate the sum of 100,000 euros from Dan Șova remained in force.

“Admits the appeal in cassation declared by the defendant Şova Dan-Coman against the criminal decision No. 90/A of March 1, 2023 issued by the ÎCCJ, in file No. 3070/1/2021. Overturns, in part, the appealed criminal decision, only with regard to the decision to convict the defendant Şova Dan-Coman for the crime of influence peddling. Based on art. 448 paragraph (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code, paragraph 8 of the Criminal Code, and Article 16 (f) of the Criminal Procedure Code, for the offense of influence peddling. Annuls the forms of enforcement issued in the case regarding the defendant Şova Dan-Coman. It upholds the other provisions of the appealed criminal decision. Definitive”, the ÎCCJ decided on Tuesday.

The DNA accusations in the case of Dan Șova

Dan Șova, PSD senator between 2008 and 2016, was accused by the National Anticorruption Directorate that, between October 2011 and July 2014, he requested and received a total of 100,000 euros from a whistleblower in order to make Mihai Bălan, at that time general director of CET Govora, ensure the conclusion of legal assistance contracts with a certain law firm, subscription-type contracts monthly, at a value of 10,000 euros per month.

According to the DNA, Mihai Bălan caused damage to CET Govora of more than 1.3 million lei (the total amount settled with a monthly frequency, based on the two contracts), simultaneously with obtaining undue benefits, in the same amount, by the law firm.

The anti-corruption prosecutors said that, between December 2011 and December 2012, the law firm issued monthly invoices to CET Govora for the legal assistance activities provided.

In the same period, according to DNA, Dan Șova collected a total of 60,000 euros from the law firm.

In the second contractual period, according to the prosecutors, Dan Şova collected a commission in the total amount of 40,000 euros. Most of the money received by Şova was directed, directly, towards the settlement of a debt arising from the purchase of a building located in Bucharest from the former deputy Cristian Rizea, DNA noted.