The Judicial Inspectorate announced on Monday that it has notified itself ex officio and will carry out checks in the case of the vice-president of the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) Daniel Horodniceanu, former chief prosecutor of DIICOT, who was stopped in traffic by the Iași police, at which point he asked the the law enforcement officers if they know who he is and he also threatened to contact the head of the Iași County Police.
“Following the appearance of the video recording in which Mr. Prosecutor Daniel-Constantin Horodniceanu, vice-president of the Superior Council of the Magistracy, was stopped for control by a police crew, the Judicial Inspectorate notified ex officio to determine if there are indications of any misconduct disciplinary action and will carry out checks to clarify the circumstances of the incident and evaluate the behavior of the magistrate during the interaction with the police squad“, the Judicial Inspection sent.
Daniel Horodniceanu was stopped in traffic by the policemen from a commune in Iaşi County on the grounds that he exceeded the legal speed and because he did not signal that he intended to overtake.
In a video recording distributed in the public space, it can be seen that Daniel Horodniceanu is visibly disturbed that he was stopped in traffic, he asks one of the policemen if they know that he is “Chief Prosecutor Horodniceanu from Organized Crime”. The policeman said that he did not know him, Horodniceanu asking him “But why don’t you know me?”.
Horodniceanu had been stopped on a road in Iaşi county for overtaking without signaling properly and for driving at a speed higher than the legal speed. The policeman told him that he was not fining him, but only requested his documents and that he wanted to draw his attention to the mistakes committed in traffic. “I’m going to talk to the head of the Police County Inspectorate- IPJ”, Daniel Horodniceanu warned the policeman.
Also, Horodniceanu said that he has been a prosecutor for 25 years and that he is known by all the policemen in Iasi county. At the same time, Daniel Horodniceanu reminded the police officer that in 2016 he spoke with the former minister Gabriel Oprea so that the policemen would receive 15% more in salary. “I spoke with Minister Oprea then and you took 15 percent,” Horodniceanu told him.
In retort, Horodniceanu said the video was “a well-planned skit” and that the two policemen “pretended that we don’t know each other” in order to provoke him.
“At first glance, for a neutral character, we are dealing with a police officer on duty, who resists the pressures of a prosecutor, stopped in traffic in the right way. In reality, things are different: I was stopped in traffic at 1:30 at night, by a rural police crew, without breaking any traffic rules. I witnessed a skit well put together by two policemen who knew me. Today I found out that this skit was also filmed, probably with a hidden recording device, and not a body-cam. However, the images are processed, the film also has other passages, cut, however. (…) The fact that they pretended not to know each other was likely to provoke me, once more, to react in this way. I realize that I was in a challenged situation, but what is regrettable and I reproach myself for this, is that I did not resist the challenge and, on this emotional background, probably also combined with some personal problems, I reacted in this way, which it does not characterize me“, Horodniceanu told Digi24.ro.
Minister of Justice Cătălin Predoiu also reacted in this case. “Mr. Prosecutor Horodniceanu, vice-president of the CSM, gave a statement today in which he shows that he understood that he acted wrongly in that situation, that he regrets this, he allowed himself to be provoked. (…) The context is regrettable, as he also said, the attitude is regrettable, it is obviously wrong from beginning to end, but it is important that he achieved this. He expressed his regret for what happened. I think it’s fair to say this too. (…) I agree with what Mr. Horodniceanu himself said, what happened there is not right, the approach was wrong. The best way in such a situation is to think about where you went wrong, what you did wrong, to admit this and to express regret, preferably sincerely”, declared the Minister of Justice.
The National Union of Policemen and Contract Personnel – SNPPC demanded the resignation or dismissal of Horodniceanu.