Amazing decision of the Vaslui Court: several DNA records from Buzatu’s file were cancelled. Even the recordings with the whistleblower Farmazon

The Vaslui court decided, on Monday, that several recordings of the discussions between the PSD baron Dumitru Buzatu and two witnesses, in the bribery case, should be canceled. The DNA prosecutors were asked to convey if they maintain their decision to send Buzatu to court.

It is about DNA recordings with the discussions between Buzatu and Iulian Birzu and Emil Savin, known as Farmazon, the one who denounced Buzatu.

“The solution in short: I. Pursuant to art 345 paragraph 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, partially admit the requests and exceptions formulated by the defendant Buzatu Dumitru, formulated by lawyers Winzer Cristian and Atasiei Daniel. Pursuant to art 102 paragraph 2.3 of the Criminal Procedure Code related to art 148 paragraph 3.10 of the Criminal Procedure Code, it admits the exception of the nullity of the means of evidence consisting in the recordings made using technical devices by the collaborator with real identity Birzu Iulian and by the collaborator with real identity Savin Emil, and consequently orders the removal of the excluded evidence from the case file, respectively:

– verbal process of reproduction in written form dated 16.02.2023 of the recordings made by the collaborator Birzu Iulian on 15.02.2023, entries located on tabs 166-192 volume 5 of the criminal investigation file as well as the optical support on the basis of which made the registration;

– verbal process of reproduction in written form dated 01.03.2023 of the recordings made in the ambient environment on 24.02.2023, entries located on tabs 139-157 volume 5 of the criminal investigation file as well as the optical support on the basis of which it was made Register;

– verbal process of reproduction in written form dated 10.03.2023 of the recordings made in the ambient environment on 24.02.2023, entries located on tabs 135-138 volume 5 of the criminal prosecution file as well as the optical support on the basis of which it was made Register;

– verbal process of reproduction in written form dated 16.02.2023 of the recordings made by the collaborator Birzu Iulian on 15.02.2023, entries located on tabs 158-164 volume 5 of the criminal investigation file as well as the optical support on the basis of which made the registration;

– verbal process of reproduction in written form dated 08.09.2023 of the recordings made by the collaborator Savin Emil on 07.09.2023, entries located on tabs 202-205 volume 13 of the criminal investigation file as well as the optical support on the basis of which made the registration; – verbal process of reproduction in written form dated 29.08.2023 of the recordings made by the collaborator Savin Emil on 18.08.2023, entries located on tabs 206-215 volume 13 of the criminal investigation file as well as the optical support on the basis of which made the registration;

Rejects as unfounded, the other requests and exceptions raised by the defendant Buzatu Dumitru through lawyers Winzer Cristian and Atasiei Daniel, regarding the legality of the execution of criminal prosecution documents and the administration of evidence in file no. 19/P/2023 of the Prosecutor’s Office next to the ICCJ, the National Anticorruption Directorate-Iasi Territorial Service, as well as regarding the regularity of the notification act”, is the decision of the court.

“The present conclusion is forwarded immediately to the PICCJ-Iasi Territorial Service, with the request to specify within 5 days from the communication, whether it maintains the order to be sent to court or requests the restitution of the case”, the court’s decision also states.

“It’s a good start. I find the solution of the first instance absolutely natural. Our lawyers exposed and proved before the judge of the preliminary chamber serious and impermissible problems with the legality of the administration of evidence in the criminal prosecution phase. All means of evidence represented by recordings made using technical devices by collaborators with real identity had to be excluded from the set of evidentiary material. This is because they had been obtained illegally, with the impermissible circumvention of the relevant rules, without prior notification to the judge of rights and liberties, in order to obtain technical authorization and without obtaining technical supervision mandates from the competent court.

There are, however, other serious problems regarding the legality of the execution of criminal prosecution documents and the administration of evidence, which we will certainly submit to the analysis of the court of judicial control, when the case arises. The result of the procedure in the preliminary chamber has a direct determining influence on the development of the judgment in the merits, being able to be decisive for establishing the innocence or guilt of the accused person. With certainty, there is still a long way to go until the judicial reality is restored in this file, but there are encouraging premises for finding out the truth and for the administration of justice”, said Buzatu’s lawyer, Cristian Winzer.

The former president of the Vaslui County Council, Dumitru Buzatu, left the Vaslui Penitentiary on April 17, after being placed under house arrest following a sentence of the Vaslui Court, upheld by the Iasi Court of Appeal.

The former PSD leader Vaslui was awaited by his son, Tudor Buzatu and two of his former advisers and was transported by car to his home in Zapodeni commune.

“I’m very sorry, but I have nothing new to tell you. (…) I don’t have any message for now, but maybe later”, Dumitru Buzatu told journalists, upon leaving the Vaslui Penitentiary.

Asked by journalists how he feels, he replied that he is “relatively well”.

The Vaslui court ordered a series of interdictions for Dumitru Buzatu, along with the decision to place him under house arrest.

Thus, according to the solution given at the Vaslui Court, the former leader of the Vaslui PSD will not be allowed to contact several witnesses in the case, including his whistleblower, the businessman Emil Savin. At the same time, if the measure ordered on Monday remains definitive, Dumitru Buzatu is not allowed to exercise the profession or activity in which he committed the act, he must periodically communicate relevant information about his means of existence and is prohibited from participating in cultural events or at public gatherings for political purposes, directly or indirectly.

“During the measure, the defendant can leave the house to appear before the judicial bodies upon their summons. In urgent cases, for valid reasons, the defendant can leave the building, without the permission of the judge of the preliminary chamber or the court, for the strictly necessary period of time, immediately informing about this institution, the body or the authority designated with its supervision and the judicial body that taken the measure of house arrest or the person in front of whom the case is. Based on art. 221 para. (4) The Criminal Procedure Code draws the defendant’s attention to the fact that, in case of bad faith violation of the measure or of his obligations, the measure of house arrest can be replaced by the measure of preventive arrest”, the court decision also mentions.

The Vaslui court issued, on September 23, a preventive arrest warrant for 30 days in Buzatu’s name for bribery, but he contested the decision. Later, the magistrates of the Iasi Court of Appeal rejected the appeal filed by Dumitru Buzatu’s lawyer.

Buzatu was caught red-handed by the anti-corruption prosecutors when he received 1.25 million lei as a bribe to favor a company to obtain a contract. The money was found by the investigators in the trunk of his car, after the former president of the Vaslui County Council allegedly received it in a restaurant.