Decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal in the case of the former head of ANAF, Sorin Blejnar, who requests the annulment of the conviction for bribery of 12 million lei
Judges of the Bucharest Court of Appeal they admittedon Wednesday, basically the appeal by which Sorin Blejnar requests the annulment of the sentence to 5 years in prison, received 7 years ago. Blejnar has already served his sentence, but if he wins the case he can get back the confiscated bribe.
- The two judges of the Bucharest Court of Appeal who heard Sorin Blejnar's annulment appeal had different opinions, one appreciating that it is inadmissible, the other claiming that it can be tried.
- Because they did not reach a consensus, a third judge was appointed in the panel who decided that the request of the former head of ANAF is admissible.
Sentenced in 2019 to five years in prison, Sorin Blejnar was released on parole in 2021. He filed a first extraordinary appeal in 2023. He then claimed that at the time of his conviction, his actions were time-barred. The Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected his annulment appeal.
In February, this year, the former head of the Tax Office filed a new challenge to the execution. This time he asked the judges to cancel the conviction citing a decision of the supreme court from last year. It is an appeal in the interest of the law, which clarified the calculation of the limitation period in the case of corruption offenses that extended over a longer period of time.
Some courts calculated the limitation period from the first material act, others from the last. The General Prosecutor's Office proposed that the term be calculated from the date of the last crime.
A supreme court decision may result in the conviction being overturned
Asked to clarify the situation, in order to unify the practice, the High Court of Cassation and Justice decided that the limitation period should be calculated from the date of the first material act. The decision of the supreme court became binding once it was published in the Official Gazette, February 12, 2025.
The two judges of the Bucharest Court of Appeal who have Sorin Blejnar's second appeal for annulment to judge had different opinions, one appreciating that it is inadmissible, the other arguing the opposite.
Given the conflict of divergence, a third judge was appointed in the panel who decided that the request of the former head of ANAF is admissible. With a score of 2 to 1, the extraordinary appeal was accepted in principle, the Court setting a deadline of June 17 for the merits of the appeal.
If it will be admitted on the merits, Sorin Blejnar will not only escape the conviction, but will be able to recover the bribe of 12 million euros confiscated after the final sentence.
The judge who opposed Blejnar's request indicated in the separate opinion that this extraordinary appeal has the authority of res judicata, given that the court ruled once before three years ago on the same request.
Sorin Blejnar and the bribe of 12 million lei
DNA prosecutors sued Sorin Blejnar in 2016, accusing that during 2011, in the context of the initiation of public procurement procedures at ANAF, he accepted from a businessman the promise of 20% of the value of some contracts that were to be concluded at the level of the public institution.
The respective money was to be given to Blejnar in exchange for exercising his influence over a subordinate, so that he would manage the procedures for awarding the respective contracts so that they would be obtained by the businessman's company.
According to DNA, between November 2011 and January 2012, Blejnar and the other official involved in this endeavor received the total amount of 13,172,520 lei, through a “ghost” company controlled by them, with which the businessman's company concluded several fictitious contracts. From this amount of money, Blejnar Sorin effectively received the amount of 12,513,894 lei, DNA said.
