The statements about the eventual lifting of the immunity of judges are dangerous, the head of the Parliament’s legal commission for appointments and immunities Olesea Stamate said after the head of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (APO) Veronica Dragalin said the immunity enjoyed by MPs, judges and lawyers prevent prosecutors from fighting corruption. According to Olesea Stamate, the APO has sufficient instruments to conduct its activities and the lifting of the immunity of MPs, judges and lawyers is not a good idea, IPN reports. Chief anticorruption prosecutor Veronica Dragalin said the immunity of MPs, judges and lawyers is an impediment in the work of prosecutors. For her part, PAS MP Olesea Stamate said the eventual lifting of the immunity of judges will run counter to international practices concerning the independence of judges. “These are dangerous statements. I don’t say it because I sit as an MP. For flagrant offenses of which the acts of corruption form part, no consent to lift the immunity is needed. The prosecutor can detain, arrest and search the MP, the judge and the lawyer if it goes to flagrant offenses. Furthermore, if we consider the lifting of the immunity of MPs, judges and lawyers, we must attentively look at the international standards. In the case of MPs, we can yet discuss as we had a relevant bill to amend the Constitution. But in the case of judges, this thing is not even discussed. This would be blatant violation of all the international standards regarding the independence of judges,” Olesea Stamate stated in the program “Résumé with Ileana Pîrgaru” on RliveTV channel. The MP said she also doesn’t support Veronica Dragalin’s proposal to increase the fines for acts of corruption. “I think the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office has sufficient instruments. We significantly improved the criminal-procedural legislation after taking over. Missis Dragalin’s argument in favor of the considerable augmentation of fines for corruption offenses seemed strange to me. I think the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office does not sufficiently use the mechanism that is already available to it – the extended confiscation by which the possessions above the legally obtained assets can be confiscated if the person is convicted of acts of corruption. Why is the fine needed if the whole property outside the legally gained property can be confiscated?” asked Olesea Stamate. Recently, by an amendment proposed by PAS MP Igor Chiriac, the duties of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office were separated from the duties of the National Anticorruption Center. This way, the APO will conduct the investigation only when the offenses of active or passive corruption were allegedly committed by the President, MPs, ministers, judges, prosecutors, employees of the Security and Intelligence Service and the National Anticorruption Center, and managers of public institutions, and also when the value of bribe is higher than 300,000 lei no matter what post the suspect holds, when the done damage exceeds the value of 3 million lei and in such cases as influence peddling and illegal party funding.
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