March 13, 2013

PRESS RELEASE

The Public Information and Press Relations Bureau within the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is authorised to release the following information to the public:

The prosecutors within the Criminal Investigation and Forensic Section within the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice issued the order to pursue the criminal prosecution of the defendant MÁTÉ ANDRÁS-LEVENTE (M.P., Deputy in the Parliament of Romania) for the offence of conflict of interest.

 The factual situation established by the prosecutors in the bill of indictment ascertains that on March 16, 2010, further to the proposal of MÁTÉ ANDRÁS-LEVENTE M.P., his wife was hired at the Chamber of Deputies with an individual employment contract starting March 16, 2013 until the end of his M.P. tenure, and the contract was signed by the defendant himself.

 During March 2010 – January 2011, the wife of MÁTÉ ANDRÁS-LEVENTE M.P. earned the total amount of 5508 lei for this contract.

 It must be pointed out that the First Deputy to the General Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice issued the order to overthrow the initial solution not to pursue a criminal prosecution in this case.

Mention must be made that the commencement of criminal prosecution is a stage in the criminal proceedings that is regulated by the Criminal Procedure Code and whose purpose is to set up the proceedings framework for the administration of evidence, which under no circumstance can infringe the presumption of innocence principle.