Lazar vs. Toader row over closed file regarding Iohannis. Court clerks contradict Prosecutor General. Justice Minister’s document still expected

Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar explains that the order for closing of the case regarding Klaus Iohannis was signed by another prosecutor and that the Minister of Justice is exploiting a registrar’s error made in March 2016 in order to manipulate the distortion of the truth and use it as a reason for his revocation.

“I’ve learned after a week of suspicion that the ordinance to close the file invoked by the Minister of Justice was not issued, confirmed or verified by me as Prosecutor General of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Alba Iulia Court of Appeals, as he suggested, including it as a reason for revocation. It is a typical way for manipulation, by distorting the truth. The Minister of Justice exploits a registrar error made in March 2016, during the selection of the necessary works for the procedure of appointment to the position of Prosecutor General of the Prosecutor’s Office upon the High Court of Cassation and Justice,” reads the message sent by Augustin Lazar, in response to the information delivered by Tudorel Toader.

Lazar also explains that, by making copies of documents drawn up by Augustin Lazar, the registrar photocopied, following a family name error, the order issued by prosecutor Cristian A. Lazar of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. This ordinance of disjunction regarding other persons arrived, through the decline of competence, at the Prosecutor’s Office upon the Alba Iulia Court of Appeals, file assigned by Augustin Lazar to a prosecutor for settlement.

The Justice Minister responds on Facebook: It was not and there is no error

Justice Minister Tudorel Toader states that the presence of ordinance to close down the file on Klaus Iohannis was not an error, as Augustin Lazar said. “Simple explanations! There was and is no error in the ordinance to close down the file in A. Lazar’s candidacy file. My question was the following – how is such an ordinance justified in the file. Finally, we find out the “justification” – the registrar made a mistake when copying the works. I also recall the fact that there was also ‘a mistake’ on March 20, 2018, when the registrar has multiplied the Secret Protocol dated in 2009, sent it to the Justice Ministry without the last two pages, which were stuck to the copy sent to the CSM!” Tudorel Toader wrote on Facebook.

The registrars’ union contradicts Augustin Lazar: The court clerks do not manage the application file for the position of Prosecutor General

The Romanian Registrars’ Union has said on Wednesday night that the clerk’s profession is being subject to “serious damage to the image” following Augustin Lazar’s statement acknowledging the existence, in his application file, of an ordinance to close down a file that targeted Klaus Iohannis, which allegedly was included there by a Registrar. “It’s not the clerks to manage the application files, these are personal,” the union’s statement reads, according to stiri.tvr.ro.

PSD’s Florin Iordache: If it was an error, Toader should assume it

PSD Deputy Florin Iordache, former Minister of Justice (author of the controversial GEO 13 that prompted wide street protests in Romania in 2017), has stated that Tudorel Toader has the duty to clarify the story related to Augustin Lazar and if it is an error, he should assume it.

“We are watching a series on Facebook, the Justice Minister has the duty to clear things up, if it has been an error, he should assume it, if it is not an error and he has a document, he should present it,” Iordache said, according to digi24.ro.

Cristian Lazăr, named by President Iohannis to the Prosecutor’s Office one year after the file was closed

Klaus Iohannis signed a decree to name Cristian Aurel Lazăr in the position of deputy chief prosecutor of the Criminal Prosecution section with the General Prosecutor’s Office on December 15, 2015.

On December 14, 2014, the prosecutor had closed down a file targeting the head of state.

On December 15, 2015, Iohannis signed more decrees, among which there was also the one appointing Cristian Lazăr in the above-mentioned office with the Prosecutor’s Office upon the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Bucharest, for a three-year mandate.

In September 2014, one month before the presidential elections, Cristian Aurel Lazăr had closed down a case against Iohannis.

The file had been opened following a criminal complaint initially addressed to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, where a person had asked prosecutors to start the criminal prosecution against Klaus Iohannis, under the charges of conflict of interest, abuse of office against the interest of individuals. The case was closed by Cristian Lazăr on September 18, 2014, according to luju.ro.

On Thursday, prosecutor Cristian Aurel Lazăr has confirmed he was the one who signed the close down of the file regarding Klaus Iohannis, but says no evidence has been found to support the denunciation. He told Digi24 that the ruling he pronounced in the file opened in 2013, which came in the autumn of 2014- has never been a secret, adding that the ruling had become public and the mass media reported about it ever since it had been released.

Ex-JusMin Raluca Prună denies existence of any dismissal ordinance signed by either Augustin or Cristian Lazăr

Former Justice Minister Raluca Prună has said on Thursday that in Augustin Lazăr’s candidature file there had been no dismissal ordinance regarding Klaus Iohannis that should have been signed either by Augustin Lazăr sau de Cristian Lazăr.

“When I sent the file (proposing Augustin Lazăr  as PG) to the Romanian President, after the CSM’s opinion, the file encompassed three documents, the proposal of appointing the above-mentioned prosecutor, the candidate’s CV and the CSM’s opinion (…) I have never seen any kind of dismissal ordinance that should have been signed or not by Augustin Lazăr or Cristian Lazăr. There was not such thing,” Raluca Prună told a press conference.

Ex-president Basescu to Toader: You confuse the Lazars

Former president Traian Basescu says the Justice minister must admit his error or resign following the report on PG Lazar.

“Tudorel Toader! Professor, this is huge, man! You confused the Lazars! You sank your own report to recall the Prosecutor General by yourself!” Basescu posted on Facebook.

He argued that there are only two solutions left to repair all this fuss: “public apologies with admitting the error or resignation”.

The former head of state considers that “Augustin Lazar’s revocation is out of the question now”. “Middle-school teacher Iohannis will hit rector, university professor, doctor Tudorel Toader in the head with the report until he demotes him down to the rank of trainee schoolmaster“, Basescu said.