The trial in which Romanian Senate president Calin Popescu Tariceanu is accused of false testimony and favoring the offender can begin, the High Court decided on Friday.

The judges of the High Court of Cassation and Justice rejected the objections submitted by Tariceanu and decided to start the trial in his case, reports local Hotnews.ro. The supreme court will set a date for the hearings.

Calin Popescu Tariceanu was indicted on July 7, 2016, by the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) for lying under oath during his hearing as a witness in a case related to the illegal restitution of part of the Snagov Forest and the Baneasa Farm, located north of Bucharest.

Prosecutors accused Tariceanu of making inaccurate statements on issues capital to the case while he was under oath. He didn’t say everything he knew, aiming to prevent or impair the criminal responsibility of the defendants prosecuted in the case.

Calin Popescu Tariceanu also claimed that he didn’t know about the restitution of certain pieces of land in Baneasa and Snagov to Paul-Philippe Hohenzollern, also known as Prince Paul of Romania, and the involvement of the defendants Tal Silberstein, Beny Steinmetz, and Moshe Agavi. He also didn’t say everything he knew about his relationship with the defendants Tal Silberstein, Dan Catalin Andronic, and Remus Truica.

Dorin Marian, Tariceanu’s former chief of staff, is also indicted in this case. The illegal restitution, which started when Tariceanu was Prime Minister, damaged the state by EUR 145 million, according to the DNA prosecutors.

editor@romania-insider.com