The Government adopted in the meeting on Tuesday an emergency ordinance for the modification and addition of the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, Justice Minister Florin Iordache announced on Tuesday.
"The third normative act we adopted today is the GEO for the modification and addition of the Law 296 Criminal Code and Law 135 Criminal Procedure Code. In fact, under this GEO, (...) we put in agreement the Constitutional Court rulings which (...) should have been implemented by the Government or by Parliament," Iordache said.
Asked how this ordinance modifies the abuse of office offense, Iordache replied: "That prerequisite complaint which the civil society or the mere citizens invoked was eliminated and abuse of offices was placed in agreement with the Court ruling."
The Justice Minister also said that, according to the normative act, abuse of office with an under 200,000 lei damage will no longer be criminally sanctioned.
"It isn't criminally sanctioned. Therefore what is under 200,000, the damage is recouped and the offender is no longer criminally sanctioned. This was also what the Court recommended, to establish a quantum. Taking into account the aggravating circumstances, it is a reasonable limit, because the court could have had in view 400,000, or 1,000,000. If you take a look at the Criminal Code, it could have had in view 2,000,000 euro, and then, under these circumstances, we established this amount at 200,000 lei. This is very important, because in the public communication it appeared that we decriminalize the abuse of office... No, we regulated it better and in agreement with the Court decision," Iordache said.
The Justice Minister also said that in the GEO there are modifications in respect to the denouncer institution. "A modification is made and a higher clarification, so that offenses remain chargeable in six months, because this is where the problems was, wether the offenses remain or not chargeable. The offenses remain chargeable, but we have very clearly pointed out what the six months mean," Iordache said.
He also said that the GEO comes into force once it is published in the Official Journal.
Moreover, asked why this GEO was adopted in a Government meeting in the evening, without having announced the draft on the meeting agenda, Iordache said: "Because this was the time when the Government meeting was held. (...) There are several drafts on the agenda (...). The agenda was added (...) the Government can add items to the agenda."
According to the Justice Minister, the Government is the one establishing the opportuneness of approving a normative act.
"Laws in this country are made either by the Government or by Parliament. I invite Parliament on this Ordinance that we have initiated to modify it as they see fit," Iordache also said.