Justice Minister Tudorel Toader said Thursday morning that all documents for the extradition of businessman Sebastian Ghita have been sent to Belgrade, to the Serbian authorities, on Wednesday.
“There’s a usual procedure. According to an article in the treaty, there is the possibility to extend the deadline for submitting the documents from 18 to 40 days, in order to prevent an early release. It’s a precautionary measure. (…) We have sent all the documentation to the Justice Ministry in Serbia, it has no less than 475 pages, it was translated in record time and has been registered by the Serbian ministry. Since yesterday at 13.30h the Romanian Ministry of Justice has met its obligations,” Minister Tudorel Toader has said.
At the request of the Romanian Ministry of Justice, judges in Serbia have extended the deadline for the Romanian Government to send the documents requesting the extradition of Sebastian Ghita to 40 days. Normally, the Minister of Justice had to send these documents within 18 days since the moment the Romanian businessman was captured in Belgrade, digi24.ro informs.
Serbia’s Justice Ministry confirmed on Wednesday for hotnews.ro that it has received from the Romanian Ministry of Justice a request to postpone the deadline to 40 days for Sebastian Ghita’s extradition request. “Yes, they have sent some papers. It’s true, they have called for a 40-day postponement,” said Milina Vuckovic, spokesperson with Serbia’s justice ministry.
Once the papers arrive in Serbia, they will be translated from Romanian into Serbian, and then the magistrates will check if all the conditions are met for Sebastian Ghita’s extradition. In the meantime, the Romanian businessman remains in pre-trial detention in Serbia. On April 14, the former MP was remanded for 60 days, and the term could be extended to one year.
Runaway Sebastian Ghita, the former SocDem deputy investigated in several corruption files in Romania, was tracked down and detained in Belgrade, Serbia almost two weeks ago.
The former deputy was gone missing since December, while he was on a Police stakeout. He was investigated in several criminal files, and an APB had been issued against him, as well as an international arrest warrant through Interpol.
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