Kovesi, ironic response to Nicușor Dan after the president's criticism of DNA: “I wish the president a lot of sleep, a good sleep”
The Chief Prosecutor of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), Laura Codruța Kovesi, stated on Friday that she wishes President Nicușor Dan “a lot of sleep”because “the country needs him back in good shape”.
Laura Codruța Kovesi PHOTO Facebook
Kovesi commented on the statements previously made by President Nicușor Dan regarding her tenure at the DNA leadership, stating that “the position of president of Romania is a difficult, stressful position”.
“The fact that you got a good score at the international math olympiads does not qualify you to make such statements. (…) certainly the position of president of Romania is a difficult, stressful, tiring position. I wish the president a lot of sleep, a good sleep. The country needs him to come back in good shape”the head of the EPPO told Context.ro.
The statements come after, in April, Nicușor Dan told Europa FM that under the leadership of Laura Codruța Kovesi at the General Prosecutor's Office and DNA, he is inclined to believe that “abuses were made”.
“Again I return to the relationship between society and the political decision-maker. There are a lot of people who say that abuses were made. But do we have a report? If these statements are still made, which are also very serious: “the justice system was used to eliminate political people”, for example, or for political wars… Matters of this very serious should be documented. I would be inclined to believe that they were made (abuses – ed.)”said Nicușor Dan last month.
Asked if she thought the head of state was relying on something when he made such statements, she replied: “I tend to think not. I will not make another comment”.
Regarding the direction in which the DNA has evolved in recent years, the head of the EPPO stated that she does not have an objective assessment and that she is of the opinion that “every prosecutor in the DNA and every head in the DNA tried to do what they could and what was best”.
“I hear this all the time. It was Kovesi, he made files, everyone thought that Romania was corrupt. Now, if there are no more files, probably everyone thinks that Romania is a clean country. We all know that it is not. We all know that there are problems. I have pointed out many times this problem with VAT fraud, with fraud with customs crimes. Everyone is talking that there is no money in the budget, so let's put the money in the budget. Let's do something, the European Public Prosecutor's Office can help, it can contribute.”he added.
She stated that, from the perspective of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, it is clear that it exists “a problem with VAT fraud in Romania”.
“All this money that should go into the national budget or the EU budget, and if I mean only VAT fraud, or tax evasion, or customs fraud, all this money ends up in the hands of criminals. And you know from experience that such crimes cannot happen without the complicity of some authorities. Now, that they are simple officials, civil servants, or there are various political persons in various positions who help, we have seen in our files that there are also such situations, so do not exclude”Kovesi also stated.
