The High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) on Monday decided to stop the criminal proceedings against the defendants in the case of illegal retrocession of forests in Romsilva, on the grounds that the facts of which they were accused have lapsed.

Following this decision, the sentences handed down by the Court of Appeal of Brasov in July 2021 were annulled, Agerpres notes.

So, Ioan Adam (former deputy who was sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment with execution in the Brasov Court of Appeal), Andriy Grebenchuk (son of Viorel Grebenchuk) escaped punishment – 2 years of imprisonment with suspension in the first instance; Lorand Andras Ordog (judge of the Covasna court) – 7 years with execution; Paltin Gheorghe Sturdza (beneficiary of retrocession) – 3 years with execution; Anka Roksana Bularke (formerly Adam, ex-wife of deputy Ioan Adam, judge of the Brasov Court) – 2 years of conditional imprisonment.

It was also decided to stop the criminal process or acquit the other defendants in the case: Dan Costin Bengescu, Gabriela Rodica Sturdza (formerly Zaharia), Sorin Ion Jacob, Ioan Metashel.

We will remind, the former deputy Viorel Grebenchuk was sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment. Together with other defendants, he appealed the decision of the Court of Appeal of Brasov, but withdrew the appeal in November 2021.

The statute of limitations intervened as a result of the application of some decisions of the Constitutional Court, as well as the fact that the process was postponed for eight years in several courts:

• 2015 – file sent by DNA to ICCJ;

• 2018 – the Supreme Court handed down the first verdicts. Also at that time, the judges acquitted the former minister Tudor Chiuariu, but the special section, which at the time was headed by the current judge of the Constitutional Court, Gheorghe Stan, decided not to appeal this decision;

• November 2019 – A five-judge panel of the ICCJ overturns the convictions handed down a year ago and decides that the case should be re-examined from scratch and then transferred to the Court of Appeal in Brasov;

• July 2021 – The Court of Appeal of Brasov upholds the punishments applied in 2018;

• September 2021 – file returns to ICCJ for appeal;

• June 2022 – The ICCJ had scheduled a final verdict, but the trial was returned to the bench and delayed for almost a year;

• November 2023 – Supreme Court judges recognize statute of limitations, and all sentences are overturned.

It should be noted that Viorel and Andrii Grebenchuk, as well as former deputy Ioan Adam admitted their guilt, asking for a summary trial.

The charges in the case relate to the illegal retrocession of 43,227 hectares of forest land in Bacau county in favor of Paltin Sturdza and against Romsilva. The damage calculated by DNA in this case is 1,421,800,870 lei (equivalent to 303,888,615 euros), which corresponds to the value of the land.

Viorel Grebenchuk admitted his actions before the judges and said that he agreed to interfere with the work of officials of some institutions in Bacău so that Paltin Gheorghe Sturdza could take over 43,000 hectares of forest. In exchange for the intervention, Grebenchuk was to receive 12,000 hectares by signing an additional deed in the name of his son.