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Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu said on Thursday that at the latest JHA Council meeting in Prague he raised again the problem of convicts who should be serving time under final court rulings in Romania, but who find loopholes in the foreign legislation to evade the execution of the sentence in certain EU member states.
The Minister's statements come as the central media informed on Thursday that the Athens Court of Appeal has decided to reject Romania's extradition request for former Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu.
"The Ministry of Justice respects the independence of judges in all EU member states. On the other hand, I can inform you that I have raised again at the recent JHA Council meeting in Prague the issue of judicial cooperation on criminal matters between EU member states, specifically the fact that certain corruption convicts sentenced to prison in Romania find 'legal loopholes' in foreign law to evade serving time in certain EU member states. The Ministry has recently put up for public debate a 'bill for fugitives' intended to discourage this phenomenon, and which should be in for adoption as soon as possible," Catalin Predoiu said.
According to the Justice Minister, the Romanian courts cooperate "in an exemplary manner" in the extradition and surrender procedures under European legal instruments, as do the Romanian law enforcement authorities.
"What applies in the fight against corruption and the recognition of the enforcement of final criminal judgments in an EU member state must be valid in any EU member state," Predoiu stressed.
He added that one of the explanations for a difference in the approach by foreign courts is "the distrust in the decisions of Romanian courts", caused by the further keeping in place of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) - for just two EU member states - along with the rule of law mechanism which applies to all member states.
"This is yet another reason for us to focus our efforts on achieving the CVM benchmarks, and the adoption of the Justice laws in the next parliamentary session is the key goal in this regard," the Justice Minister said.
Sorin Oprescu was provisionally arrested on May 17 in Greece, on a European arrest warrant issued by the Romanian judicial authorities, based on a final court decision of conviction.
On May 13, the Bucharest Court of Appeal had definitively sentenced Oprescu to 10 years and 8 months in prison for setting up an organized criminal group, bribe-taking, abuse of office and money laundering. AGERPRES
