The general prosecutor claims she did not file any request to receive an army rank, pointing out that a possible order in this sense is null.
Romania’s General Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi (photo) stated on Wednesday evening on DIGI 24 that she will continue to appoint Daniel Morar as chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Office (DNA) if “no proposal appears or nobody else is appointed.” Kovesi made the statement considering the fact that Morar’s six-month appointment at the helm of the DNA expires on August 12. By law his term in office can be extended. On the other hand, Codruta Kovesi pointed out that there are other vacant offices at leadership level with the Public Ministry, offices for which she proposed no candidates, pointing out that Romania’s future general prosecutor should be the one “to build his team, to choose his people,” since collaboration is extremely important. “Collaboration between the head of the DNA and the general prosecutor is extremely important. There has to be good communication, there has to be the same managerial vision, because neither of them can do anything unless they work together,” Kovesi stated, being quoted by Mediafax. Referring yesterday to the issue of nominating the DNA chief prosecutor, Justice Minister Titus Corlatean said he would wait for this agitated political period to pass. After the referendum he said he will make certain announcements.We remind our readers that Codruta Kovesi’s term in office expires on October 2. She was general prosecutor for two successive three-year terms in office. The Justice Minister is the one that proposes candidates for the offices of general prosecutor, deputy general prosecutor, head of the DNA and deputy head of the DNA, the Superior Magistracy Council (CSM) giving its green light. The country’s president is the one that makes the appointments afterwards. When told that Prime Minister Victor Ponta has asked the DNA to publish the transcripts of his telephone conversations that were tapped, Kovesi stated that a premier cannot tell a prosecutor what to do and a politician cannot tell a prosecutor whether to make a piece of evidence public or not, the magistrates following the rules of the criminal code. In what concerns the fact that several “transcripts” were leaked to the press, the general prosecutor pointed out that journalists called them “transcripts,” when in fact they appear “in documents that the prosecutors draw up and that concern the evidence.” On the other hand, Kovesi stated yesterday for Mediafax that the Ministry of Defence informed her in the last 24 hours that she is either a lieutenant colonel or a major, although she did not file any kind of request for an army rank, such an order being null. She asked the MoD to verify how she was promoted to the rank of colonel without her being aware and to remedy the situation. The statement came after Defence Minister Corneliu Dobritoiu stated early this week that the general prosecutor is a Romanian Army colonel.
Antonescu wants transparent procedure when appointing heads of DNA and Prosecutor’s Office
Interim President Crin Antonescu stated on Wednesday evening that the European Commission’s report on the judiciary aside, there is the need to come up with a more transparent procedure when appointing the future heads of the DNA and of the Supreme Court’s Prosecutor’s Office. “There has to be greater information and even public debates about who these people are and what their careers are. It would be very good,” Antonescu stated. He pointed out that this did not happen when Codruta Kovesi and Daniel Morar were appointed.
