The National Tax Administration Agency (ANAF) will take the steps to put up to auction the goods seized following the sentence of the Bucharest Court of Appeals in the case of Dan Voiculescu, namely the headquarters of Intact TV channels, the ANAF announced on Friday after meeting with representatives of Antena TV Group.
ANAF executives met on Friday, at the Ministry of Finance, with officials of Intact press group, while several thousand people were protesting nearby, in the Constitution Square, in response to ANAF’s five-day eviction note issued on Monday to Intact Group televisions hosted in two of the group’s buildings. The tax administration moved to enforce a final criminal sentence of 2013, upheld in a 2014 appeal, through which the two buildings have been formally seized and transferred to Romanian state’s property.
Over 3,000 persons support Antena 3 TV against tax authorities in Bucharest rally
Over 3,000 persons were present on Friday in Bucharest’s Constitutiei Square, in a public gathering organized by Antena 3, with the message “Press freedom in danger.”
The people carry placards reading “Alongside Antena 3”, “With you,” “We are evicted”, “Antena 3 is here too.”
The rally was authorized by the municipality from 3pm to 6.30pm.
No stand expressed by DNA head on Tax Authority’s way of enforcing final court decision
The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) points out that the DNA chief prosecutor has not voiced any stand on the modality in which the tax authorities enforce a final court decision.
“On the contrary, chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi firmly reiterates the principle according to which any final court decision must be enforced without discussion and underscores that this is a basic principle of the rule of law, which enshrines the separation and balance of powers, and is clearly stipulated in Romania’s Constitution,” reads a DNA release sent to Agepres. on Friday.
According to the release, Laura Codruta Kovesi brings to the public knowledge that Antena 3 TV station didn’t ask for her viewpoint on this matter.
“The conclusions brought forth in the ‘Sinteza Zilei’ talk show of February 18, 2016 are untrue and based on a series of statements made in 2014, taken out of context and reinterpreted with the clear purpose of misleading the public opinion,” the release shows.
Moreover, the DNA head notified the Superior Council of Magistrates, which is called to find if the information aired by the TV station can negatively and unjustifiably affect the public opinion.
“Taking into account that in the aforementioned talk show the producer/host promoted the idea that the DNA chief prosecutor, as representative of the judicial system, is taking sides in relation to the enforcement by the tax bodies of the final court order in question, Mrs Laura Codruta Kovesi notified the Superior Council of Magistrates to find if the untruths broadcast could negatively and unjustifiably affect the public opinion, in the sense of raising doubts about the authority and impartiality of the judicial authority,” the DNA release points out.
