Victor Ponta sued the Romanian state, DNA and prosecutor Uncheșelu. "I decided to sue him for the eight and a half years he took from my life"
Former Prime Minister Victor Ponta has sued the Romanian state through the Ministry of Finance, DNA and prosecutor Jean Uncheșelu, who sent Ponta to trial in the Turceni - Rovinari case and in which he was finally acquitted late last year.
Victor Ponta's lawsuit was registered on 26 April at the Bucharest Court, the defendants being the Romanian State, through the Ministry of Finance, but also DNA and prosecutor Jean Nicolae Uncheșelu. The subject matter of the case is "action in tort".
Former Prime Minister Victor Ponta and former Senator Dan Șova were acquitted on 28 December 2023 by the Supreme Court judges in the "Turceni - Rovinari" case, in which they were tried for corruption in connection with the conclusion of consultancy contracts, the judges' decision being final. In February, Victor Ponta announced that he had decided to start a court battle against prosecutor Jean Uncheșelu.
I decided to sue him for the eight and a half years he took out of my life, of course, with the Romanian state in subsidiary. Not as a personal thing, but I want to see how much the Romanian state appreciates, maybe give me ten lei in compensation, maybe a hundred lei, maybe a million lei, the fact that you were removed from office with a false record. I've had assets seized for eight and a half years. I want to take half of his 10,000 euro salary", Victor Ponta said on the "Marius Tucă Show".
At the time of his final acquittal, Victor Ponta said he was innocent, his case was only meant to remove him from the office of prime minister, the other four defendants were collateral victims who suffered all innocent.
"I regret that the Romanian state (i.e. all of us) has paid unnecessary expenses of over 1 million euros - experts, searches, magistrates, lawyers, etc., just to justify an obviously frivolous and unfounded accusation. I have no expectations and no desire for revenge against the authors of this dossier or those who profited politically. However, I do not want to forget that, through this dossier and the resignation imposed, the fate of myself, of many other innocent people and even the political destiny of Romania was changed. I hope that such abuses will never happen again in our country", Ponta said at the time.
A six-year process
Ponta also stated that "Jean Uncheșelu did not commit an error, a mistake, a misinterpretation or was misled by a change in legislation or a new decision of the CCR, he committed an abuse that he knew was an abuse".
"He carried out an order from his boss knowing from the beginning that the order was illegal and that all the people accused were innocent," the former prime minister said, adding that "Prosecutor Uncheșelu was also rewarded for carrying out this abusive order, he was taken over at the European Public Prosecutor's Office by Mrs Kovesi, he receives a monthly salary of thousands of euros from European money and he does not pay anything out of his pocket, the Romanian State pays."
Victor Ponta was indicted on 17 September 2015. Prosecutors accused Victor Ponta that, between October 2007 and December 2008, through his law firm, he obtained 181,439.98 lei from the Civil Law Firm "Șova and Associates" for activities that appear in the documents, but which were not carried out.
Victor Ponta was tried for forgery of documents under private signature, complicity in tax evasion and money laundering, which he allegedly committed as a lawyer. On 10 May 2018, Victor Ponta was acquitted of the offences of forgery of documents under private signature, complicity in tax evasion and money laundering, the decision was not final. The High Court upheld the first court's decision late last year.
