The Romanian National Integrity Agency (ANI) announced on Thursday, March 4, that it has notified the General prosecutor's Office from the High Justice Court in Bucharest to investigate the case of LibDem (PD-L) deputy Mircea Marin. He is being accused of giving false declarations. ANI was informed that the LibDem deputy did not respect "the legal dispositions regarding filling in and submitting wealth declarations".
The agency notes that according to the law 144/2007 regarding the National Integrity Agency, deputies and senators must declare their wealth and interests.
ANI claims that, following checks, "a series of discrepancies " have resulted, among which the fact that the deputy "has incorrectly mentioned in the wealth declaration a plot of land: in reality this was 500sqm smaller than the declared surface", but also that "a building and a stretch of land, measuring 419.50sqm, leased for a period of 49 years by the Pantelimon Town Council, have not been specified in this wealth declaration".
"Due to the fact that the presented aspects constitute serious clues regarding Mr. Mircea Marin committing the crime of false declarations, entailed and punished by art. 292, Penal Code, with only judicial organs having the competence to decide on it, the recommendation notified the Prosecutor's Office from the High Justice Court", ANI announced.
In a declaration for Romanian news agency Agerpres, Marin said that he did not consider it necessary to note in the wealth the chartered land, as ANI claims, because from his point of view, it is not his property, but the state's: "I knew there will be an ANI investigation. (...) From where I'm standing, the chartered land is not part of my wealth. I have a lease contract and I cannot treat it as my wealth. This is the wealth of the part that has leased it to me, namely the state." The
