A CCR judge failed to pass a land in the declaration of wealth, an investigative publication that criticizes the Court's decision shows

“The declarations of wealth will no longer be published by the National Integrity Agency. We will have no access to the journalists, the decision was taken by the Constitutional Court of Romania,” the public investigative publication publicly reacted on Thursday, after the decision taken by the judges from the RCC. Public Record notes that Bogdan Licu is one of the judges who made the decision, recalling that he failed to pass in the declaration of wealth a land bought last year, in 2024.

The RCC decided, earlier during the day, that the statements of wealth and interests should no longer be published on the website of the National Integrity Agency, nor on the online pages of other public institutions, and these statements should no longer include the revenues and goods of the spouses.

Basically, by this decision, which is final and mandatory, the statements of wealth and interests will be kept secret.

“The statements of wealth will no longer be published by the National Integrity Agency. We will have no access to the journalists, no. From Public Record, in a message published on the publication's Facebook page.

“Our investigation would not have been possible without the existence of public data. It is not the only journalistic material that is based on wealth statements,” journalists say.

“Transparency hurts only when the decision -making power have things to hide. Thank you for reading, we continue!”

What has the CCR decided

Following this decision of the RCC, the declarations of wealth that are submitted to the National Integrity Agency no longer have to include the goods of the spouses and children.

“The Constitutional Court, within the control of constitutionality of posteriori, with unanimity of votes, admitted the exception of unconstitutionality and found that the provisions of art.3 paragraph (2) of Law no. 176/2010 on the integrity in the exercise of public functions and dignities, for the modification and completion of Law no.144/2007 The modification and completion of other normative acts are constitutional insofar as it does not refer to the rights and obligations of the declarant's husband/wife, as well as of the major children in its maintenance ”, said the RCC.

Constitutional judges have argued that a statement on their own responsibility can only be made on their own behalf.

“Essentially, the Court held, regarding the provisions of art.3 paragraph (2) of Law no.176/2010, that they contravene the provisions of art.1 paragraph (5) of the Constitution, through the non -observance of the qualitative requirements that the drafting of the law texts must meet in order to be in acc engages the criminal liability of the declarant, which is why it can only be done in its own name, a person cannot be held criminally responsible for the deed/statements of another person. Legal of the goods of the spouses and determines the criminal liability of the declarant for information that he does not have/does not know directly, but must obtain them from a third person, respectively from the spouse and the major children in maintenance ”, writes in the motivation offered by the RCC.

Also, with a majority of votes, two other articles of Law no.176/2010 were declared unconstitutional, which refers to the publication on the website of wealth and interests.

Art. 12 paragraph (6) stipulates: “The Agency ensures the display of wealth statements and the statements of interests, provided in annexes no. 1 and 2, on the website of the Agency, within a maximum of 30 days from the receipt, by anonymizing the address of the declared buildings, except for the locality where they are located, of the address of the institution, as well as the financial assets, as well as the assets. Wealth and statements of interests are kept on the website of the Agency throughout the exercise of the position or mandate and 3 years after its termination and are archived according to the law ”.

Art.6 paragraph (1) letter (d) of Law 176/2010: “The persons responsible for implementing the provisions regarding the declarations of wealth and the statements of interests have the obligation to register in this capacity on the E-DAI and have the following tasks: (…) d) ensures the display and maintenance of the declarations of wealth and of the statements of interests, provided in the annex, on the annex, days from the reception, by anonymizing the address of the declared buildings, except for the locality where they are located, the address of the institution that manages the financial assets, of the personal numeric code, as well as the holographic signature.

According to the RCC, statements of wealth and interests will no longer be published on the sites of institutions where those who have to declare their assets, because the “right to the protection of privacy” are violated.

Real estate transactions of Constitutional Judge Bogdan Licu

On February 13 this year, Public Record published an investigation that shows that Bogdan Licu, judge of the Constitutional Court of Romania, failed to pass in the declaration of wealth a land bought, in 2024, and that this is only one of Licu's real estate transactions.

Bogdan Licu funded profitable real estate transactions made by his son. The CCR judge bought land or housing that he sold after a year or two, each time with substantial profits

The journalists from Public Record have found that Bogdan Licu bought 7,000 euros a land near Lake TatLageac in Constanța county in an area where the price of the square meter varies in 2024, when the transaction was made, between 30 and 58 euros. But Licu only paid 14 euros.

The land is not found in Licu's last declaration of wealth, but the Judge of the RCC has transmitted, at that time, that he will send a new statement to the National Integrity Agency.

But the transactions of the Licu family have a much larger history, with much more consistent values. In 2020, the judge of the Constitutional Court bought for his son a house and a lot of land of 1500 square meters in Joița commune, in Giurgiu county for 65,000 euros. Subsequently, the son of the magistrate, Tudor Licu, who was only 20 years old, demolished the house and built a commercial space that he rented with 3,000 euros per month to a retail chain. “I offered my son a source of income,” the judge explained.

Tudor Licu bought, in January 2021, an apartment in the Cortina residential complex, with 98,000 euros. In May 2023, when he was still a student, he sold for 188,000 euros, according to the investigation of journalists from Public Record.

The two acquisitions were not passed in the statements of wealth of the CCR judge although they should also contain the revenues made by the “children in maintenance”, a category that, after the Guide for completing the statements, contains “children up to 18 years old or, if they continue their studies, until they are completed, until they are completed. But Licu claimed that his son Tudor did not enter this category because he is maintained alone since the student at UNATC.

Also, Public Record mentions that Bogdan Licu bought, in 2018, an apartment in Năvodari, for 93,000 euros. The apartment was sold in February 2022, with 370,000 euros, that is four times more.