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June 1, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 2
Romanian court orders president
to dismiss iconic anticorruption chief
coming days from Iohannis, and the June 8 court decision in the case of majority leader Liviu Dragnea will play a major role in future political developments. Should the court decide not to convict Dragnea, the need for reforms both within the DNA and outside the DNA with the purpose of tackling the systemic corruption will become even more evident.
Kovesi’s years at the helm of the DNA were marked by ever-increasing numbers of prosecu- tions, including of top level government officials. This earned the DNA praise from international bodies such as the European Commission but Kovesi has been under increasing pressure from the government to step down.
Her expected dismissal leaves the DNA in a delicate situation, amid a scandal related to
its protocols with the intelligence services, the alleged fabrication of evidence at the Ploiesti local office and a failure to secure convictions for high-profile officials in recent cases starting with the collapse of one of Romania’s biggest ever corruption cases (dubbed the Microsoft case)
on a technicality.
The government led by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) has long been seeking to remove Kovesi, under whose leadership numerous corruption probes were launched into party members. Iohannis has until now blocked attempts to remove the DNA head, announcing
on April 16 that he was rejecting a request from the justice minister to dismiss Kovesi.
However, the Constitutional Court decided on May 30 by six votes to three that Iohannis must endorse the government’s request and dismiss Kovesi by decree, according to a press release from the court.
“[T]he President of Romania refused to issue the decree of dismissal of the chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate on grounds of opportunity and not of legality, which created a deadlock in the exercise of the Minister of Justice's authority over the activity of prosecutors,” the release reads.
The president of Romania, under the provisions of Article 94 (c) of the Constitution, does not have a discretionary power within the revocation procedure but a power to verify its regularity, the court added.
“[T]he Court, having regard to its case law, has also established the constitutional conduct to be followed, namely the issuance by the President of Romania of the decree of dismissal of the Chief Prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate, Ms. Laura Codruta Kövesi,” it concluded.
The Constitutional Court has not yet issued the motivation for its decision, which becomes mandatory for the president only after it is published in the Official Journal. There is no legal deadline for the president to comply with the Constitutional Court’s ruling. Failing to comply with court’s ruling can, however,
be interpreted by lawmakers as breaching
the Constitution. They would thus be given
an opportunity to suspend the president from