Nicusor and Mazare have thumbed their noses at prosecutors

Although they said they would make further declarations if asked, the mayor of Constanţa and the president of Constanţa County Council started beating around the bush when cited. 

Radu Mazăre, Nicuşor Constantinescu, Ramona Dospinescu, Ion Marica, Cristian Talpău, Nora Alina Chircă and Bogdan Ghiţulescu stood up the anticorruption prosecutors. After the initial statements in the lawsuit accusing them of a prejudice in amount of 100 million Euros, the employees of Constanţa Municipality, led by the aedile of the city, started beating about the bush when it came to those further statements they offered to make.

The indictment drawn up by DNA shows, for each and everyone of them, that, "although he previously mentioned that he would give further declarations, the defendant unjustifiably attended none of the two terms citing him for hearings". On the other hand, we should mention that more than half of the accusations in the lawsuit known as "Mazăre - DNA business" refused to read the bill of indictment before hearing the case. This is a very interesting detail, as the fact that there is no acknowledgement of the bill of indictment may be invoked as an exception in the legal action being heard by Bucharest Court of Appeal and may have as a result the delay of pronouncing the sentence. On the first position in the list of those making no declarations is, of course, Constanţa's aedile. Out of 37 defendants in the case inquiring the Constanţa's mayor for a prejudice evaluated by DNA as being more than 100 million Euros, only 17 were interested to know which were the accusations. Among these 17, we will certainly not find some notorious names, as Radu Mazăre, Nicuşor Constantinescu, Ramona Dospinescu, and not even other names, more or less known, within Constanţa City Hall and not only. According to the written record  of the indictment made by anticorruption prosecutors, which led to prosecuting 37 persons, those 20 suspects "unjustifiably" refused  to come to DNA in order to acknowledge the bill of indictment before being sent up for trial.

Constantinescu, the same "pattern" as Mazăre

The first on the list of those refusing to be presented with the bill of indictment, and also the first to be mentioned not to have made the announced declarations is Radu Mazăre. In the end of the information related to the mayor of Constanţa, the prosecutors show that, in his case, the carrying on of legal proceedings started with the resolution on 8^th of December 2005, when "he was presented with the charges, the bill of indictment was made available to him, and after that he was heard as a defendant". Still, the magistrates state in the indictment that "once the prosecution extended and after informing him about the ordinance on 25^th of July 2007, although he stated that he would make further declarations, the defendant (i.e., Radu Mazăre) unjustifiably failed attend all the nine terms citing him for hearings". And there is more to it, as on page no 173 of the DNA indictment, it is shown that "the defendant was not presented the bill of indictment as he unjustifiably failed to attend all three terms he was cited for this procedure". The same behaviour seems to have been thoroughly reproduced by Nicuşor Daniel Constantinescu. About him, the prosecutors made almost identical notes as in Mazăre's case, both on the accusing papers and on the promised further declarations. Mazăre's pattern seems to have also been reproduced by Constantin Racu, as manager of the Public Administration Direction with Constanţa Municpality and member of the law enforcement commission for the Law 10/2001, in this case noticing one slight difference. According to DNA, once he was acquainted with the ordinance on 25^th of July 2007, Racu "mentioned that he would make no further statements in respect to the cause" and communicated to the prosecutors that he "refuses to take part in the proceedings", when he was cited in two terms. About being presented the bill of indictment, he declared, according to the indictment, that "he does not acknowledge bearing this right". Daniela Ramona Dospinescu, the manager of the Patrimony Direction within Constanţa Municipality, and also member of the law enforcement commission for the Law 10/2001, was another one not ackowledging the bill of indictment and she also refused to make any other declarations.

Marica has read his file

The first from the 17 defendants who looked over the accusations they were charged with, before being sent to trial, was Ion Marica, manager of the Technical Investment Direction within the municipality and also a member of the law enforcement commission. Although he also restrained from making any further statements, Marica acknowledge receiving the bill of indictment on the 5^th term he was cited. The prosecutors said that he missed the first 2 terms with no justification, the third, for medical reasons, and on the forth term he asked for some time for study. On the other hand, the suspect refused to sign any written acknowledgement of the bill of indictment. The legal advisor Cristian Talpău, member of the commission, also stuck to Mazăre's pattern and he was sent to trial without being presented the bill of indictment and without having made any further statements, while the legal advisor Nora Alina Chircă acted like Ion Marica and refused to sign the written record for acknowledging the bill of indictment, although she "forgot" to make any other declarations. In the case of Dan Miron, the prosecutors managed to present him the bill of indictment, this piece of information being included in the indictment, pages 185 - 187. He was also reheard once the prosecution was extended. On the other hand, Bogdan Ghiţulescu made no further statements, although he said he would do so and he did not wish to see the bill of indictment before being sent to trial.

Tudorache, the only one who confessed

To cut it short, among those refusing to acknowledge receipt of the bill of indictment, we will also find Paraschiva Barbu, Basarab Popa, Alexandru Octavian Şerban, Valentin Gheorghe Ionescu, Luminiţa Ruxandra Darie, Elena Ştefănescu, Marius and Carmen Puşcaşi, Andrei Sozanski, Graţiela Rusu, Sanda Gabriela Radu, Claudia Cealera, Luminiţa Călătoru and Silvia Stanciu. According to the prosecutors, some of them "showed no interest" in acknowledging the bill of indictment or "unjustifiably" did not show up when cited in the procedure. At the opposite side, among those looking over the accusations they were charged with, we have found Răzvan Mircea Tudorache, Laura Mariana Leşe, Niculae Nejloveanu, Mihai Sergiu Ceacîrceanu, Bogdan Gabriel Sandu, Daniel Ene, Georgică Giurgiucanu, Emil Dragoş Săvulescu, Aurel Jean Andrei (who refused to sign the acknowledgement receipt, though), Cristina Budei, Viorel Pană, Mihai Camboianu, Cristi Borcea andi Alin Horaţiu Dima. The most interesting aspect still remains the great number of defendants, who refused, openly or implicitly, to acknowledge the bill of indictment, because of the fact that this could be used as an exception in the lawsuit held by Bucharest Court of Appeal and which could delay the sentence. Those who chose not to make any statements are Basarab Popa, Niculae Nejloveanu, Daniel Ene, Cristina Budei, Viorel Pană, Mihai Camboianu, Valentin Ionescu, Cristi Borcea and Luminiţa Darie. On the list of those not being present when cited for hearings, there we find Paraschiva Barbu, Alexandru Şerban, Mihai Ceacîrceanu, Bogdan Sandu, Georgică Giurgiucanu, Emil Săvulescu, Elena Ştefănescu and Marius and Carmen Puşcaşi. Răzvan Tudorache was the only one who admitted his crimes during the hearings, and in the opposite side we have Laura Leşe, Aurel Jean Andrei, Andrei Sozanski, Graţiela Rusu, Gabriela Radu, Claudia Cealera, Luminţa Călătoru, Silvia Stanciu and Alin Horaţiu Dima. The next session of the trial is scheduled on 27^th of May.