November 5, 2012
PRESS RELEASE
The Public Information and Press Relations Bureau within the Prosecutors Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is authorized to bring to public knowledge the following:
Prosecutors from the Criminal Investigation and Criminalistics Section within the Prosecutors Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice finished the investigations in the case known in the media as referendum frauds in the Mehedinți County and launched, on November 5, 2012, the criminal prosecution against the defendants Dumitru MIREA, Liviu Cătălin BONDOC, Gheorghița BURCU, and Manuela Carina MICU, for the offence provided by Article 55 (1) of the Law No. 3 of 2000.
The indictment shows the following:
I. On July 29, 2012 and before this date, during the national Referendum organized for the dismissal of the Romanian President Traian Băsescu, at the Polling Station No. 170 of Gârla Mare, the Mehedinți County, the defendant Dumitru MIREA, in the capacity of president of the said polling station, drafted several documents, namely the minutes on the results of the referendum and the supplementary voters list for the mobile ballot box, including the same persons several times on the list or including persons who had not filed such request, subsequently introducing in the ballot box a number of voting bulletins equal to that of the persons falsely included on the list.
This way, out of the total of 1,391 persons who exerted their voting right, 127 voting bulletins were falsely introduced in the ballot box.
II. On July 29, 2012, during the national Referendum organized for the dismissal of the Romanian President Traian Băsescu, the defendant Liviu Cătălin BONDOC, in the capacity of president of the Polling Station No. 63 of Drobeta Turnu Severin, drafted false documents, namely the minutes on the results of the referendum and the supplementary voters list pages 2 to 21 and 25 to 29, subsequently introducing in the ballot box number of voting bulletins equal to that of the persons falsely included on the list, namely 375 voting bulletins.
This way, out of the total of 1,714 persons who exerted their voting right, 375 voting bulletins were falsely introduced in the ballot box.
III. A total of 49 signatures on the election lists (permanent and supplementary) were forged in the Polling Station No. 70 in Orșova whose president was Gheorghița BURCA . An equal number of voting bulletins was subsequently introduced in the ballot box.
This was carried out in the following way:
By duplicating the identification data of the persons listed on page 3 of the supplementary list, in the sense that the same persons were listed on page 11 of the same list but in the reverse order, or by including and signing fictitious persons on the supplementary list, in the sense that the identification data of the respective persons (the CNP Personal Identification Number) either were nonexistent or belonged to other persons (CI Identity Card).
This way, out of the total of 1,324 persons who exerted their voting right, 49 voting bulletins were falsely introduced in the ballot box.
The evidential material in the case revealed the fact that a number of 34 invalid CNPs were identified in the supplemental election list of the Orșova Polling Section no. 70, while the series and the numbers of the identity cards corresponding to them belong to other persons than those registered on the list, which leads to the conclusion that the lists had been forged.
Also, the minutes of proceedings of 12.03.2012, 26.09.2012 and 27.09.2012 reveal the fact that the entries 11-15 on page 9 of the supplemental election list drawn up at the Orșova Polling Section no. 70, as well as page 10, entries 1-15 and page 12, entries 2-15, contain false specifications, in the sense aforementioned, with regard to the voting persons, who add up to 34 and whose signatures had been forged.
IV. As regards the defendant MICU MANUELA, the evidence in the case revealed the fact that on July 29th, she, as member of the Orșova Polling Section no. 70 for the national referendum, forged several documents of the election bureau, that is the minutes of proceedings on the results of the referendum as well as several pages of the voters supplemental election list, by enlisting fictive persons, with invalid CNPs, with series and numbers of the identity cards corresponding to them belonging to other persons, and then by introducing a corresponding number of ballot papers, and so validating the presence of the falsely-listed persons.
Therefore, the pages in the supplemental election list had been filled out by the defendant MICU MANUELA, except for pages 4, 8, 11 which were filled out by the defendant BURCU GHEORGHIȚA.
The technical-scientific report drawn up in the case shows that the handwriting in the columns Personal numeric code, Voters name and surname, Voters domicile/residence (street, house no., building, flat), Series and number of identity card on page 9 entries 11-15, pages 10 and 12 entries 1-15 of the supplemental election list, belongs to the defendant MICU MIHAELA.
The file was remitted to the Drobeta Turnu Severin Court of first instance, for their competent settlement.
We will also mention that this stage of the criminal trial means, in compliance with the Criminal Procedure Code, the end of the criminal investigation and the referral of the indictment papers before the court, situation which cannot, under any circumstances, overcome the presumption of innocence principle.