The National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) filed an extraordinary appeal against the supreme court’s ruling to close – on the grounds that the facts had expired – the file regarding the illegal financing of the electoral campaign of Traian Băsescu, in which Elena Udrea and Ioana Băsescu had been sentenced to prison.
The appeal in cassation is the extraordinary way of attack through which the DNA tries to obtain the annulment of the decision of the supreme court through which Ioana Băsescu and Elena Udrea escape the prison sentences, judicial sources told HotNews.ro. According to the court portal, the action was filed on August 8 at the High Court of Cassation and Justice.
The National Anticorruption Directorate’s move comes amid the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union, by which Romanian courts have the possibility not to apply the CCR and ICCJ rulings regarding the prescription, if this violates EU law.
On July 24, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided, following the notification of the Brașov Court of Appeal, that the decisions to terminate criminal proceedings as a result of the statute of limitations are contrary to European Law.
The CJEU says that “national courts are obliged, in principle, in accordance with these provisions, to leave unapplied” the decision of the supreme court regarding the limitation, “to the extent that this decision allows the invocation of the limitation of criminal liability, based on the effects of the decisions of the Constitutional Court, as law more favorable criminal law, in cases of serious fraud that harms the financial interests of the Union and therefore increases the systemic risk of impunity for such crimes”.
Elena Udrea-Ioana Basescu case
Former minister Elena Udrea is now in Târgșorul Nou Women’s Penitentiary, where she is serving 6 years in prison in the Gala Bute case. The final sentence of conviction was given in June 2018 and confirmed in April 2022 by rejecting an appeal for annulment.
After the final sentencing decision in the Gala Bute case, Udrea tried to flee the country and was caught in Bulgaria, where she was in custody for over two months, during which the extradition process took place. She was brought to Romania on June 16, 2022 and was imprisoned at Târgșor Penitentiary.
On March 2, 2021, Elena Udrea was sentenced by the Bucharest Court of Appeal to 8 years in prison in the case in which she is accused of inciting bribery and money laundering regarding the financing of the 2009 electoral campaign.
Ioana Băsescu, the daughter of former president Traian Băsescu, received a 5-year prison sentence for inciting embezzlement and inciting money laundering.
Dan Andronic was acquitted of the crimes of perjury and favoring the perpetrator. He is the only defendant in this case in which the court ordered the acquittal.
The decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal was not final, being appealed. On July 11, the High Court of Cassation and Justice decided to terminate the criminal trial because the statute of limitations had expired.