NAD chief ‘accuses pressures on prosecutors’

A press release reveals that, following Daniel Morar’s declaration, the Superior Council of Magistrature has initiated, of its own motion, the proceedings upon the defence of NAD prosecutors’ independence, and it has commanded verifications by means of the Judicial Inspection.

‘The fact that the political class has expressed opinions concerning some active files can represent an immixture in the activity of the magistrates.’

‘Consequently, the Superior Council of Magistrature advises the representatives of the political class to exhibit reservations and to adopt a balanced attitude when it comes to expressing opinions on the instrumentation by judges and prosecutors of some active causes’, the press release of the Superior Council of Magistrature also states.

The chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate, Daniel Moraru, believes that the political declarations create pressures upon the prosecutors involved in the influence peddling file which is instrumented by the NAD prosecutors in Oradea and which also refers to the Minister of Environment, László Borbély.

NAD chief Daniel Morar, has stated on a private television channel that when he had spoken about the pressures exerted upon the prosecutors, he had been referring to the declarations of PNL vice-president Mihai Voicu, who had stated that ‘NAD is like the boy who cried wolf’, an ‘unreliable institution which drops bombs.’

Daniel Morar was also referring to the declarations of Kelemen Hunor from DAHR, who has stated that ‘NAD is an institution that destroys careers and that, in the majority of cases, the accusations had proven to be false’, as well as to Victor Ponta’s accusations, published on his blog.

Daniel Morar has also stated that there is no ‘Borbély case’, that Mr. Borbély is not put under any official accusation.

Affirmations about the inquisitors, made in ‘incognizance of the case’

The clarifications made by the chief prosecutor of NAD came after the latter declared, on the public television channel, that the solidarity of some party colleagues would not be a problem for the prosecutors, if it stopped there, but this solidarity was ‘spiced up’ with affirmations made in incognizance of the case and with accusations towards the inquisitors.

‘I have seen what the declarations of support for party colleagues or for members of other political parties consist of, and I can only observe that some things which have repeatedly happened lately are taking place again.’

‘These characters which formulate accusations are not familiar with the factual situation, nor are they familiar with the judicial one, and they are also not familiar with the judicial norms which are to be applied here. However, this does not deter them from formulating accusations such as “NAD is an abusive institution.”’

‘The problem arises when this climate puts the prosecutor under pressure, in the context in which the instrumentation of such a file is difficult, as it is’, Daniel Morar stated, on the public television channel.’

As a reaction to the affirmations of the NAD prosecutor concerning the pressures exerted by the politicians in the ‘Borbély case’, Prime Minister Emil Boc has declared that the state authorities guarantee the independence of justice and that any person must be held responsible for their own declarations which support the contrary.

‘He who has something to say, let him say it. In Romania, the independence of justice is guaranteed and, from the point of view of declarations, every person must be held responsible for what he declares. I possess no further information’, the Prime Minister stated.

The President and the Minister of Justice ‘can exert pressures’

As a reaction to the declarations of the chief prosecutor of NAD on TVR, PSD leader Victor Ponta has stated that the Opposition and the Prime Minister cannot exert any kind of political pressures, the Minister of Justice and the President of the country being the only ones who have an institutional relationship with the chief of NAD.

‘I understand that, after many years, Mr. Morar is starting to gain courage and to say when political pressures are being exerted upon him. I hope he retains this courage until the end and I hope he says who has exerted pressures and in what direction.’

‘From a political point of view, there are only two people whose political will dictates the appointment of the NAD chief, namely the Minister of Justice and the President of the country. The others, the Opposition, and even the Prime Minister cannot exert any kind of political pressures because they do not have any institutional relationship with the chief of NAD’, Victor Ponta declared.

PNL vice-president Mihai Voicu has declared for Mediafax that the chief-prosecutor of NAD, Daniel Morar, remains indebted to the public opinion and to legality; if he had observed any illegal action, he should clarify the subject and investigate it in the frame of his attributions.

Translated by: Mădălina Borcău
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University