Romania's Constitutional Court defers ruling on key issue for corruption lawsuits

Romania’s Constitutional Court (CCR) postponed for June 5 its decision on whether the panels of judges of the High Court (ICCJ) that were assigned corruption cases in recent years were legal or not.

The ruling is expected after the Chamber of Deputies, through vice-president Florin Iordache, filed an objection saying that the High Court didn't respect the law when making these five-judge panels and thus came into conflict with the Parliament. Iordache, invoking Law 78/2000 on fighting corruption, argues that special panels specialized in corruption should have handled the cases.

The decision could impact most of the high-profile corruption cases judged since 2003 by ordinary panels of judges. The High Court claims that all of its judges are trained to deal with corruption cases.

Sources within the CCR have told HotNews.ro that 4 of the five judges called for the decision to be postponed because they need more time to study the documents received.

The CCR also denied the notification submitted by the main opposition party (National Liberal Party - PNL) about Iordache not being authorized by law to send objections to CCR on behalf of the president of the Chamber of Deputies (Liviu Dragnea), even if he had delegated his duties. Dragnea is among the many potential beneficiaries of a CCR decision in favor of Iordache’s complaint.

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