Two Romanian judges were awarded some EUR 1 million each in compensation after taking bribes in a EUR 300 million illegal restitution case but not being condemned in time, according to Cursdeguvernare.ro based on a Europa Libera Romania report. The two were deprived of their right to administer justice during their prolonged criminal investigations since 2015.

The case wasn't particularly complex, though: those involved, including former Social Democrat leading member Viorel Hrebenciuc, pleaded guilty. But the procedures still took more than eight years before the final ruling – just enough for the High Court (ICCJ) to close the case through prescription on November 13 this year.

The Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) played a key role in the developments, as it issued rulings that derailed a whole lot of corruption cases involving politicians.

The two judges, Lorand Andras Ordog and Anca Roxana Bularcă (former Adam), are thus given a second chance to administer justice in a new and reformed judiciary system after the European Union decided to lift the Cooperations and Verification Mechanism (CVM) on the grounds that sufficient reforms were implemented and the justice system is eventually functional.

"It took a long time, there was a lot of hard work, and in the end, we succeeded. I think we can conclude that Romania has changed, it is a state of law, it is a state with a functional justice system," president Klaus Iohannis said on September 15, upon the European Commission's announcement on formally closing the CVM.

The mechanism had been closed informally in 2022, such as to allow the European Council to accept Romania and Bulgaria as Schengen members (which eventually didn't happen).

The case involving the two Romanian judges regards the illegal restitution of 43,000ha of forest to a claimant (Paltin Gheorghe Sturdza) following the involvement of former lawmakers Viorel Hrebenciuc and Ioan Adam (both social democrats, PSD). One of the judges received EUR 10,000 out of the EUR 50,000 asked, and the other was the wife of Ioan Adam. Hrebenciuc received 12,000ha of the forest for his influence peddling.

All those involved were given jail sentences by a lower court, and only the prescription prevented them from serving time. 

iulian@romania-insider.com

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