16.08.2012

PRESS RELEASE

In furtherance of the investigations conducte dat national level concerning the Referendum of July 29, 2012, the Public Information and Press Relations Bureau within the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is authorized to bring to public knowledge the following:

The prosecutor’s offices within the Public Ministry registered over 500 criminal cases concerning the Referendum of July 29, 2012. Some of these investigations are conducted by the National Anticorruption Directorate, concerning criminal offenses under Law No.78/2000.

The investigations aim to discover possible frauds, not to establish the way a certain person voted.

The investigations carried out so far in these cases have outlined several possible types of committing fraud:

- people who appear to have voted both in the permanent electoral lists and in the supplementary electoral lists;

- people who appear to have voted even though, in reality, didn’t attend the vote;

- the presence of people with false identification data on the supplementary electoral lists;

- the presence of the same signature next to a large number of people on the supplementary electoral lists;

To establish the facts it was required hearing as witnesses the people for whom there were indications of fictional presence in the permanent or supplementary electoral lists.

The hearing of witnesses was conducted in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure. According to article 85 of the Criminal Procedure Code, before a hearing the witness takes an oath while keeping his hand on the cross or on the Bible.

The Public Ministry asks the representatives of other branches of government to refrain from statements that could be interpreted as means of pressure towards prosecutors.