The Senate’s Legal Committee has approved on Tuesday the National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) request for the start of criminal proceedings against Senator Gabriel Oprea, former Interior Minister, accused of abuse of office.
The Legal Committee’s decision was taken with 9 votes for, one against and one abstention. The decision is only advisory, following that the Senate decides on lifting the parliamentary immunity of the UNPR Senator. According to Senate Speaker Călin Popescu Tăriceanu, the plenum would be convened on Wednesday at 10.30h to vote in this case, if the legal committee submits the report in due time.
Gabriel Oprea has pleaded not guilty in front of the Legal Committee and asked for the file to be returned on the grounds that it is not for the DNA to investigate, but for the Prosecutor General’s Office.
UNPR Senator Gabriel Oprea said on Tuesday he is innocent, that he always respected the law and asked nothing in addition to other interior ministers, suggesting that political games are at the basis of his file.
“I have not asked for anything in addition to other interior ministers. (…) I am a man who helped justice, I respected the law and I fully understand the power game,” Oprea said after being heard by the Legal Committee.
Gabriel Oprea challenged the DNA investigation
Former Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea has sent a letter to the Senate challenging the file in which he is investigated, requesting its return to the National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA), digi24.ro reports.
The letter has been sent while the Senate Legal Committee was expected to decide on Tuesday whether to give the go ahead for the prosecution of the former minister.
Gabriel Oprea claims that his file had been illegally handled and that the prosecutors did not have the right to investigate his file. He requests the returning of the file to the DNA to be reinvestigated.
The letter was sent to the Legal Committee, although a decision on the file should have been referred to the Senate’s Standing Bureau.
The Senator is accused of abuse of office for allegedly illegally using motorcades.
The National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) asked on January 25 for the Senate’s approval to start the prosecution of former Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea, also senator, accused of abuse of office, as during official trips he had been accompanied by crews of the Traffic Police – motorcades, an operation made available under a protocol, illegally, also to Prosecutor General General Tiberiu Nitu.
DNA prosecutors must get the go ahead from the Senate in order to start prosecution against Gabriel Oprea. In this regard, the DNA head prosecutor has sent to the Prosecutor General a report on the file, in view of notifying the Senate, as well as 15 volumes containing copies of the investigation file.
According to DNA, Oprea is guilty on two counts of abuse of office, one consisting of the use of human and material resources of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) to ensure that, unlawfully, he was accompanied by motorcades during his term as minister and the other one consisting in the conclusion of a protocol under which the Prosecutor General, Tiberiu Nitu, also benefited unlawfully from the traffic police motorcades.