Anti-corruption prosecutor: Sebastian Ghita broke the judicial control. EUR 13m bail still on

The magistrates of the Supreme Court on Wednesday overruled MP Sebastian Ghita’s appeal against the judicial control on bail ordered by the anti-corruption prosecutors in Ploiesti, which compels the Social Democrat lawmaker to pay EUR 13 million.

Therefore he has to pay the money or to file real estate liens up to this sum. However, the prosecutors accepted that the deadline for the payment should be extended until Monday, April 11th, although the initial term was today, April 6th.

On the other hand, the Anti-corruption Directorate says that MP Sebastian Ghita broke the rules of the judicial control on bail when talking about his file during a TV show.

Sebastian Ghita went to the Supreme Court on Wednesday where he filed an appeal against the judicial control on bail. The DNA set a bail of EUR 13 million, a record sum in Romania.

During the court session, the anti-corruption prosecutor handling this case said that Ghita had broken the rules of the judicial control for he attended a TV show on April 5^th where he would have referred to his file.

When a defendant is subject to legal restrictions pending trial, he is not allowed to make public statements in mass media related to the case, to the other defendants or to the witnesses.

Investigators from DNA Ploiesti have recently opened a fourth criminal record for corruption deeds against Sebastian Ghita. They claim that before and after becoming a deputy, Ghita used to control the appointment of some persons in important positions so that they could serve the deputy’s interest later on.

The investigators say that the deputy had gained financial and relational power that would have enabled him “to really determine the appointment of several persons in important positions.”

They also state that Ghiță had set up a real crime system in Prahova county, “using his powers as a ‘quid pro quo’ to involve some public servants in a crime mechanism which implied serving his illegal interests.”

One of the witnesses in the file, Adrian Istvan told during the hearings that “Sebastian Ghiță was the one to decide the promotion and the temporary or definitive appointment of some persons to the leading positions of the decentralized institutions such as Mrs. Lupea, the current deputy prefect of Prahova, Adriana Nicolae, Emilian Tudose or Daniel Petre within the county Direction of the Public Finances, Viorel Dosaru as chief inspector of the Prahova Police or Romeo Florin as ANAF vice-president.”