Kovesi Case: Inquiry Extended Over General Prosecutor’s Office

The Supreme Court’s Section for Investigating Judicial Offences (SIIJ) decided on Friday afternoon to extend investigations in the case where prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi is investigated for the 2011 repatriation of a fugitive businessman over the country's General Prosecutor’s Office.

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Judicial sources told MEDIAFAX that section prosecutors are now investigating a press statement issued by the General Prosecutor’s Office (PICCJ) in January 2017, in which the institution denies that it had any involvement with the 2011 repatriation of fugitive businessman Nicolae Popa.

Kovesi, who served as the country’s general prosecutor at the time, is accused in the case of requesting businessman Sebastian Ghita, who is now also a fugitive, to pay for the flight used to bring back Popa from Indonesia.

According to the sources, the prosecutors are looking into possible offences of favoring the culprit and false statements.

In the statement, PICCJ announced that the fugitive’s repatriation was handled entirely by the Romanian Police, which also covered the cost of his transport.

Laura Codruta Kovesi was informed on Friday by SIIJ prosecutors that she is a suspect in the case, after the court issued a subpoena on her name. She requested the recusal of both case prosecutor Adina Florea and section chief Gheorghe Stan, for reasons of doubtful impartiality.

The magistrate previously said on Wednesday that the court order was issued after she informed the Supreme Court about the date on which she was initially supposed to attend a European Parliament hearing for the EPPO office. Kovesi is favored to lead the upcoming EU-wide agency, after she was announced on first in the order of the selection committee’s preferences on a three-prosecutor shortlist for the role.

Case prosecutor Adina Florea confirmed on Thursday that the subpoena was issued in regards to charges pressed by fugitive businessman Sebastian Ghita, who accused Kovesi last year of requesting him to pay for a flight used to repatriate another convicted businessman, Nicolae Popa, from Indonesia in 2011.

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