A panel of five judges from the High Court (ICCJ) upheld on April 12 the decision of the magistrates’ body CSM from 2018, by which the judge Camelia Bogdan was excluded from the judiciary for disciplinary violations, G4media.ro reported.

The case is broadly interpreted on a political note, as Bogdan is the judge that issued the final sentence against influential businessman Dan Voiculescu. But the case rather reveals the complex structure of the Romanian judiciary, featuring families of judges, magistrates, and notaries that is best described in the literature and elsewhere in the world as “clans”.

In brief, Bogdan ordered, while serving as a judge of the Bucharest Court of Appeal and using irregular procedures, the confiscation of a large amount of money from the husband of the Bucharest Tribunal president - himself a notary involved in illegal deeds with (now convicted) Constanta mayor Radu Mazare.

The High Court of Cassation and Justice rejected, as unfounded, the appeal declared by Camelia Bogdan against the decision pronounced on April 2, 2018, by the Section for Judges in Disciplinary Matters of the CSM, thus maintaining the decision to exclude from the judiciary. 

iulian@romania-insider.com

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