APB put out for ex-DIICOT chief Alina Bica following final jail sentence. JusMin says she is in Spain

Police issued an all-points bulletin for former head of the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Alina Bica, listing her as “absconder from the enforcement of a prison sentence”, after she had received a final ruling on Wednesday by the High Court of Cassation and Justice. Bica was sentenced to 4 years in prison in a case where she was charged with aiding and abetting businessman Ovidiu Tender.

Alina Bica, who fled to Costa Rica, appears on the website of the Romanian Police General Inspectorate at the “Fugitives” section.

Bica was sentenced to 4 years in prison for aiding and abetting in this case in November 2016; the sentence remained final in June 2018.

In March 2019 the Supreme Court overturned the sentence based on the Constitutional Court ruling on the illegal structure of five-judge panels.

However, Alina Bica’s appeal was rejected this Wednesday and the sentence handed down in November 2016 was upheld.

According to the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), in 2013 businessman Ovidiu Tender asked Alina Bica to help him obtain a suspended sentence in the RAFO file which was in the dockets of the Bucharest Court. Bica followed suit and asked her subordinates at DIICOT to seek a suspended sentence for Tender.

JusMin: She seems to be in Spain, doesn’t she?

Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu has told a press conference on Thursday that he regrets the situation of Alina Bica, who was also former secretary of state during his first mandate as Justice minister several years ago.

Asked about the extradition approaches, Predoiu replied: “If I am not wrong, she is in a European country. It’s Spain, isn’t it? If she is on EU territory the Justice Ministry doesn’t have to launch the extradition procedure”.

Predoiu added: “Sooner or later we’ll bring all fugitives to the country”.