The anti-corruption prosecutors have asked during the last court hearing in the fictitious hiring file on Tuesday that PSD chairman Liviu Dragnea should be sentenced to seven years and six months in prison for abetting in abuse of office. Prosecutors have also called on the judge to cancel the suspension of the sentence ruled against the SocDem leader in the Referendum file, where he had been sentenced to two years on probation.
As for Dragnea’s former wife, Bombonica Prodana, the National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) has asked the court to take note of the termination of the criminal after she had paid the prejudice. So, prosecutors have dropped charges against her.
The DNA prosecutor asked judges to take note that the charges against Liviu Dragnea in this file are concurrent with the charges for which he had been sentenced in the Referendum file.
DNA has asked minimum sentences for the other three defendants in the file, three years for abuse of office and six months for forgery.
Liviu Dragnea has attended the last court hearing in this case at the Supreme Court, stating he still pleads not guilty. „Rulings are still pronounced by judges in Romania (…) I am still pleading not guilty”, he said during the court’s recess.
Several protesters were picketing the Supreme Court’s HQs. „You own the entire county of Teleorman,” a protester told Dragnea.
„These are lies. DNA started giving you false information,” Dragnea replied.
After he left the court hearing, Dragnea ironically said that DNA wants life sentence against him.
“For me, DNA wants life sentence. For me and other politicians. They still want to continue with this series of abuses, with this justice based on forged evidence, with threats and setups, however, the court will eventually decide. I don’t want to influence the judiciary, (…) but all the allegations, accusations, all protests have only one aim: to attempt to influence the court’s ruling,” Dragnea said upon leaving the High Court of Cassation and Justice.
PSD chairman Liviu Dragnea and his former wife, Bombonica Prodana, were investigated for abuse of office in this case. Dragnea is accused of arranging that some members of the Teleorman PSD branch should be hired at the county Social Assistance Direction, without actually working there.
Prosecutors say that during July 2006-December 2012, Liviu Dragnea, as leader of the Teleorman county council and the leader of the PSD county branch, made the former executive director of the Social Assistance Direction in Teleorman County, on purpose, to break her office duties and maintain and pay two women employed in her institution. In fact, the two women were not working there, but at the party organization.
Overall, the two women had received RON 108,612 as salary rights.
The judges postponed to give their verdict in this case on May 29.
DNA: SRI has provided information on certain crimes in Dragnea’s file, but it hasn’t been used as evidence
Asked by the Supreme Court to say if the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) has provided information in Dragnea’s file, DNA retorts that SRI has provided information on certain deeds committed in this case, but mentioned that this information has not been used as evidence and has not underlain the document which has notified the court over this case.
The anti-corruption body added that SRI had also provided technical support regarding the enforcement of the technical surveillance mandates.