Social Democrat Party (PSD) MP Madalin Voicu showed up in Parliament with his lawyer on Thursday morning, in order to read the 5,000 pages of the case file in which he and MP Nicolae Paun are accused of corruption related to the use of European funds for underprivileged Roma. The prosecutors estimate the damage at EUR 6 M. The Judiciary Commission will reach a decision on Monday on the DNA’s request to approve the arrest of the two MPs.
Voicu arrived at the Judiciary Commission accompanied by his lawyer and did not make any statements apart from the fact that for the time being he is reading his file. The file has 19 volumes that total almost 5,000 pages.
The Lower Chamber’s Judiciary Commission will convene on Monday, starting at 10.30 p.m., in order to analyze the DNA’s request to approve the pre-trial arrest of MPs Madalin Voicu and Nicolae Paun, Commission member Eugen Nicolicea stated.
The DNA sent to the Lower Chamber the request to approve the pre-trial arrest of MPs Madalin Voicu and Nicolae Paun. The two are accused of embezzlement, influence peddling and money laundering in relation to projects on the social inclusion of the Roma, projects financed with millions of Euros from EU funds. The prosecutors estimate the damage at EUR 6 M.
DNA prosecutors accuse MP Nicolae that, as president of the “Pro Europa” Roma Party Association, he embezzled European funds earmarked for programmes on the social inclusion of the Roma. Madalin allegedly helped him get the programmes approved and thus obtained benefits for his wife, whom the Association paid a consistent salary without her doing anything.
Madalin Voicu: The interpretations are trivial, I asked Teodorovici to meet Paun
PSD MP Madalin Voicu stated on Thursday that he allegedly did not commit the crimes the DNA accuses him of and that he is singled out “as a dancing bear,” and the interpretations in his case file are trivial, referring for example to a phone conversation he had with European Funds Minister Eugen Teodorovici.
Madalin Voicu explained that the intercepted phone conversations included in his file have no juridical relevance. “They [the phone intercepts – editor’s note) are very beautiful, surround sound I mean. These are strange intercepts, meaning they have a degree of banality that I suppose the gentlemen from the DNA cannot use. (…) I have to tell you one thing: I am waiting for my guilt to be proven with evidence,” the PSD MP stated.
Referring to the influence peddling accusations, Madalin Voicu said that his involvement is based on a phone conversation he had with European Funds Minister Eugen Teodorovici, whom he asked to meet MP Nicolae Paun.
“Of course, they (the DNA – editor’s note) are singling me out like a dancing bear. We’ll take Madalin, Madalin will do. Well, it’s not only them, it’s the same in the party too. (…) Now, because of things I said, I believed in and I did, I have to make up for someone else’s damage,” the MP added.
“I don’t understand the legal terms we read in the 15 or 16 case files. (…) The referral I read is clear. There are technical issues or issues of interpretation or analysis that I don’t understand because it’s not my field,” the PSD MP said.
Asked whether he will make a recommendation for his Lower Chamber colleagues in what concerns the plenum vote, Madalin Voicu said that he could not afford making recommendations to anyone. Likewise, he explained that the MPs know him sufficiently well for there to be no need for such a thing.
After the case file is read, the Judiciary Commission will convene in order to issue its report on it. UNPR MP Eugen Nicolicea pointed out that the Commission’s meeting on the Voicu and Paun cases will take place on Monday, at 10.30 a.m.
The DNA case file concerning the influence peddling and embezzlement accusations brought against MPs Madalin Voicu and Nicolae Paun has 19 volumes that total 4,886 pages. The DNA requested on Wednesday the approval of the pre-trial arrest of MPs Madalin Voicu and Nicolae Paun, for influence peddling, misrepresentation, embezzlement and money laundering.
“For the time being I have to read the file,” Voicu said when arriving at the Lower Chamber’s Judiciary Commission.
Madalin Voicu and Nicolae Paun have three days at their disposal – Thursday, Friday and Monday – to read their case files. The Judiciary Commission will convene after that, and its report is expected at the Standing Bureau meeting on Monday.
The DNA case file has 19 volumes that total 4,886 pages.
“There is no point in talking anymore, because I don’t know what this is about. I haven’t seen the file, I haven’t seen details, I haven’t seen the arguments, I haven’t seen anything,” Madalin Voicu stated in Parliament.
