The last hearing in the case where the leader of Romania's governing Social Democrats (PSD) Liviu Dragnea is judged for buse in office takes place at the High Court of Justice on Wednesday, news agency news.ro reports.
- UPDATE The court has decided to pospone the judgment until mid-May, asking the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), which launched the case, if it worked with the intelligence service SRI in the case.
The case is judged in relation to the employment of two party members at a local child care department in the county of Teleorman, where Dragnea, who now serves as speaker of the House, used to serve as county council president before entering national politics.
On March 21, he pleaded not guilty during hearings that lasted about three hours. He claimed at the time that he was taken to court without any proof, based on gossip, as he remained a "target" for the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA).
The case is of major interest for Dragnea, who already has a suspended sentence conviction for electoral fraud in a separate case. His party has been pushing a massive wave of changes to the laws governing the judiciary and the criminal laws of the country, including measures that observers said were tailored to help him in the current case.
The previous conviction has prevented him from taking over as prime minister when his party won the 2016 general elections, due to existing legislation. But not the PSD-led governing coalition is pressing with legislative changes seen as a means to undermine the fight against corruption in the country.
