The plenum of the Supreme Council of Magistracy (CSM) has decided on Thursday that Prime Minister Victor Ponta, incumbent President Traian Basescu and MEP Monica Macovei have affected the independence of the judiciary, said the CSM deputy chairman, Gheorghe Muscalu.
He specified that the CSM decision refers to the four reports of the Judiciary Inspection (IJ) tackled in a Thursday meeting, the verifications being completed as a result of the Council's demand, Agerpres reports.
"In all of the four situations, through the vote expressed by the CSM members it is decided that each of the three above-mentioned has violated and affected the independence of the judiciary. There were two reports drafted by the IJ through which one concluded that the independence of the judiciary was infringed and in two reports the conclusions were it has not been infringed (...) The decision belongs to the CSM members," Muscalu explained.
The IJ found that the statements by Prime Minister Victor Ponta referring to the solution the Court should enforce in the incompatibility file of Klaus Iohannis were capable to encroach the judiciary system's independence as he exceeded the margins of the public speech, said the IJ spokesperson, Tamara Manea.
Withal, the IJ said the statements of europarliamentarian Monica Macovei referring to exercising some pressure by the general prosecutor and his wife upon the prosecutor who deals with the Lukoil criminal file to lift the precautionary measure of seizure in this dossier would be infringing the independence of the judiciary, as the public trust in the magistrates' fair-mindedness and integrity is undermined.
On the other hand, the IJ found that the judiciary's independence was not affected by the statements made by Prime Minister Victor Ponta referring to the Lukoil file, nor by those made by President Traian Basescu regarding the Microsoft file.
CSM member, Horatius Dumbrava was the one who asked the CSM plenum to notify the IJ regarding the statements by president Traian Basescu on October 3, on the occasion of the demand for criminal investigation pursuit against some former ministers involved in the Microsoft case. Dumbrava said the criminal prosecution is not public, is confidential and "no one is allowed, all the more (...) the President of Romania, the chairs of the Senate or of the Chamber of Deputies to unveil data from criminal files under investigation," because such statements could endanger the inquiries underway and "using these elements from the criminal files in a political battle foreign to justice discredits the judiciary in the eyes of the citizens."