The Naples Court of Appeal on Thursday ordered the handover of Darius Valcov, former mayor of Slatina and minister of finance, to the competent authorities of Romania, announced the Minister of Justice, Alina Gorghiu.
"Today, the Naples Court of Appeal ordered the handover of Darius Bogdan Valcov to the competent authorities of Romania, in carrying out the European arrest warrant issued on May 3, 2023 by the Bucharest Court in the criminal file reference 2018/2015, for serving the 6-year prison sentence imposed on him by sentence 74 of February 8, 2018, pronounced by the High Court of Cassation and the Justice of Romania, which became executive following the criminal decision of the same High Court on May 38/2, 2023, for the crimes of influence peddling and money laundering committed in Romania in the period 2009-2013", Alina Gorghiu said.
According to her, the decision is not final and can be appealed within 5 days to the Italian Court of Cassation.
Alina Gorghiu shows that Valcov surrendered to the Italian authorities on May 23, in Naples, and, according to Italian legislation, given the place of surrender, the competence of the Naples Court of Appeal was attracted, the Italian enforcement court not ordering the provisional arrest with a view to the surrender, being left at large, under supervision.
As to the situation of criminally convicted persons who evade serving the sentence in Romania, the Minister of Justice says that "it is known that there are very few convicted persons in Romania who use foreign jurisdictions and provisions of the legislation of other states, in order not to serve the sentence in Romania".
"It is important to strengthen judicial cooperation. Romania is not a singular case. Other EU states are also facing similar situations. I assure you that we are active, involved in solving this problem. The procedure for issuing and executing the European arrest warrant is an exclusively judicial one, the attributions in this field are those of the courts. The attributions of the Ministry of Justice refer only to the facilitation of communication, assistance and support to the judicial authorities Romanian and foreign when issuing and carrying out the European Arrest Warrant", said Alina Gorghiu, quoted in the press release. AGERPRES