Romanian Deputies' Chamber rejects criminal investigation against PM

Romanian Deputies' Chamber in a plenary sitting on Tuesday rejected the initiation of criminal proceedings against Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who is also a deputy from the main ruling Social Democratic Party.

The decision was made with 231 votes in favor and 120 against.

The voting results were of no surprise, as the ruling coalition has a comfortable majority in the chamber.

"The result is normal," the prime minister said after the vote cast by the Deputies.

A day earlier, the Legal Committee of the Deputies' Chamber decided by voting to recommend the plenum to reject the initiation of criminal proceedings against Ponta, as requested by the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) on Friday.

The anticorruption prosecutors had asked the permission to extend the charges against Ponta in a case of forgery, tax evasion and money laundering allegedly perpetrated in his former lawyer capacity. The DNA wants to prosecute him also for conflict of interests after he took office as prime minister.

Being also a deputy, Ponta cannot be prosecuted without the approval of the Deputies' Chamber.

Ponta has allegedly received unjustifiable payments and benefits from the legal firm of fellow Social Democrat Senator Dan Sova, when they were both lawyers.

They later tried to cover up their acts by forging invoices, prosecutors were quoted as saying by official Agerpres news agency. When Ponta became prime minister, he exchanged the favor by appointing Sova at various ministries, which would justify the charges of conflict of interests.

Romania is now entering a very delicate political period. President Klaus Iohannis and leaders in the opposition asked the prime minister to resign, but the latter refused and claimed that only the parliament could dismiss him.

In addition to the case, the parliament will vote Friday on the censure motion initiated by the opposition National Liberal Party. However, given the balance of power in the current Parliament, the opposition could hardly get majority support for their censure motion. Enditem