Prime Minister Victor Ponta has been placed under indictment on Monday in the file he is prosecuted along with Dan Sova and the prosecutors are expected to identify his property so that a part will be placed under sequester, according to judicial sources.
PM Victor Ponta was heard about 30 minutes on Monday morning by the National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) prosecutors, where he arrived in crutches. Upon leaving, the Prime Minister said he will return to give statements in August, when the accounting and financial expertise in the file he is prosecuted in will be ready. He refused to say whether he would resign from the government.
Judicial sources say the prosecutors have started the criminal action on Prime Minister Victor Ponta and they changed the legal qualification from ‘suspect’ to ‘indicted’ in the “Turceni- Rovinari” file.
The Romanian premier is prosecuted for forgery in deeds by private signature, complicity to tax evasion and money laundering in Turceni-Rovinari case. According to prosecutors, Ponta would have committed these deeds while he was a lawyer.
Judicial sources say that DNA would have found evidence against Victor Ponta, namely certain contracts attesting the partnership between Ponta’s private legal practice and Sova’s, during the searches conducted at Dan Sova’s office in April this year.
Social-Democrat Senator Dan Sova has been prosecuted since August 2014 for complicity to abuse of office, after his private legal practice clenched three legal assistance contracts with Turceni and Rovinari complexes that caused a RON 3.5 million prejudice to them.
Ponta not to resign as PM
Prime Minister Victor Ponta stated, on Monday, that his resignation as Prime Minister would be a betrayal of the citizens who voted for the Social Liberal Union (the defunct USL formed by the Social Democrat Party – PSD and the National Liberal Party – PNL), because it would mean a return to governing of those in power before 2012.
“In the Government, things are as follows. It’s not that I’m irreplaceable, nobody is irreplaceable, but there are some projects that I’ve put into practice and that I have to complete. Secondly (…), I was voted, together with Crin Antonescu, so we govern, but we were also voted so that those we removed [from office] to not be there anymore, I mean Ungureanu, Predoiu, Boagiu, Ialomitianu, the whole gang. Well if I resign from the Government it means I’m giving away the country to those who have destroyed it before (…), that would be a betrayal, categorically, of those who voted for me. (…) My leaving so that those who have destroyed Romania before USL may come [to power] would be a betrayal of those who’ve believed in the USL,” said Ponta, at private broadcaster Antena 3.
He mentioned, later on, that he would agree, in a certain context, to someone else taking the position of Prime Minister, but only if “he were from the USL”.
“I will always support someone who has ran in the USL and who will apply what the USL has promised. (…) Don’t believe I have reached the conclusion that only I can be Prime Minister, no, there’s not a case of that. But an easy handover of Government to those who’ve destroyed Romania before 2012, yes, I believe it would be a betrayal of those who believed in the USL and who voted for us. And if now those who are in the PNL have betrayed us, it is their sin, not mine, I stayed true to my word,” the Prime Minister explained.
B?sescu urges Ponta’s resignation
Former President Traian Basescu says Victor Ponta, ‘the national liar’ is trying to convince the world that he would betray the electorate if he resigns as head of the Executive, recalling that Ponta was not elected, but appointed by him as prime minister.
Basescu wrote on his Facebook page that Victor Ponta is creating a diversion not to resign, claiming he would betray those who voted for him.
“It’s not the people the one that made you premier, it was me who nominated you for this position, and the Parliament approved my proposal. Therefore, please betray me, the one who appointed you, resign and do not betray the country’s interests by remaining in office,” writes the former president on the social network, adding that Ponta has managed to become the only indicted European premier.
“Now the USL alliance which won elections no longer exists, so you come out of nowhere to the Victoria Palace. Don’t you dare talk about legitimacy, as the alliance and the political understanding that propelled you are all gone,” Basescu wrote on his Facebook page.
DNA: Ponta is not under judicial control
Victor Ponta has not been put under judicial control, following the prosecutors’ move to start the criminal investigation against him and to change the legal qualification from suspect to indicted in the “Turceni-Rovinari” file. The investigators have taken the protective measure of seizure of the Prime Minister’s movable and immovable property.
The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) revealed on Monday, in a press release, that in the “Turceni-Rovinari” file the prosecutors ordered the initiation of criminal action against “the defendant Victor-Viorel Ponta, lawyer at the time, legal representative of the Individual legal office “Ponta Victor-Viorel”, currently the Prime Minister of Romania, for committing the crime of forgery of private documents (17 offenses), complicity to tax evasion through repeated form and money laundering”.
President Iohannis: We will collaborate institutionally
“My view on this matter is very well known since June 5 (date when the criminal investigation against Victor Ponta commenced and the President demanded his resignation – our note). I have nothing to add, but I maintain that assessment. But we will collaborate institutionally, not to leave this answer in suspense,” President Iohannis said during a press conference in Madrid. The Romanian head of state is paying a two day visit to Spain.