BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's Supreme Court on Monday upheld a conviction and a three and a half year prison sentence against ruling Social Democrat Party leader Liviu Dragnea for inciting others to commit abuse of office.

Dragnea, who is also speaker of the lower house of parliament, appealed the initial verdict last year. Monday's conviction is final. He also has a previous conviction in a vote-rigging case. </s> May 27 (UPI) -- Romania's Supreme Court on Monday upheld a corruption conviction for the leader of the country's ruling political party, sending him to prison for 3.5 years.

Liviu Dragnea, 56, was found guilty in June for paying two party members using government money for fake jobs at a child protection agency. He appealed the ruling, but the top court upheld the conviction.

Dragnea was speaker of the lower house of Parliament and head of the ruling Social Democratic Party.

The ruling came after the party experienced losses in both the European Parliament elections and an anti-corruption referendum over the weekend. The party came in second to the National Liberal Party in the European elections.

"With this decision, the Liviu Dragnea era ends. Romania is getting better," opposition leader Dan Barna said.

Dragnea is also being investigated in a separate case for allegedly heading a scheme to take money from state projects. </s> BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s most powerful politician was sentenced Monday to 3 1/2 years in prison for official misconduct in a graft case.

The jail time for Liviu Dragnea, party leader of the ruling Social Democrats, came after a conviction last year for having two party members paid by a public agency for fake jobs.

According to prosecutors, Dragnea intervened from 2008 to 2010, when he was a government official, to keep two women employed by his party on the payroll of the family welfare agency. The women admitted working for the party while they received salaries from the public agency.

Dragnea, already blocked from being Romania’s prime minister because of a 2016 conviction for vote-rigging, was expected to be imprisoned within 24 hours.

Dan Barna, chairman of the opposition Save Romania Union party, welcomed the court ruling, which had been delayed for months after Dragnea appealed the June 2018 conviction.

“Today’s ruling ends the Dragnea era, one of the darkest over the last 30 years,” Barna said in a Facebook post. “Romania is getting healthier, we are coming back to Europe.”

Dragnea’s party suffered huge losses in European Parliament election on Sunday, falling to second place behind the opposition National Liberal Party.

Additionally, a non-binding referendum called by President Klaus Iohannis, a government opponent, seeking to pressure the government into stopping its efforts to water down anti-corruption measures won support from 80 per cent of voters on Sunday. </s> Romania's Supreme Court on Monday upheld a corruption conviction and a three-and-half-year prison sentence against ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea.

Dragnea, 56, had appealed the 2018 guilty verdict handed down for using his influence to procure fake public jobs for two women, who were actually working for the PSD at the time. He was expected to be imprisoned within 24 hours of the Supreme Court ruling.

According to prosecutors, Dragnea intervened from 2008 to 2010, when he was a government official, to keep the women emplyed by his party on the payroll of the family welfare agency. The women admitted working for the party while they received wages from the public agency.

He has already been blocked from serving as prime minster because of a prior conviction for vote-rigging, he is considered the country's de facto leader and the true power behind Prime Minister Viorica Dancila.

The verdict came on the heels of a huge defeat for Dragnea's party in the European Parliament elections. The PSD party finished second to its opposition rivals, the National Liberal Party (PNL), after collecting just 23.4% of the vote, a 14.2% drop from the 2014 vote.

Additionally, a referendum on the government's controversial judicial reforms — held alongside the EU election — won support from 80% of voters on Sunday. The referendum, an attempt by President Klaus Iohannis to block the reforms, is not legally binding, but the overwhelming support for the initiative dealt a blow to Dancila.

The Romanian Prime Minister's justice reforms are widely seen as watering down anti-corruption measures and tailored to keep Dragnea and other corrupt politicians out of prison.



Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> Image copyright EPA

The head of Romania's ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), Liviu Dragnea, has been jailed for corruption after his attempts to appeal an earlier conviction failed.

Romania's Supreme Court upheld on Monday a three-and-a-half year prison sentence against Dragnea.

The politician, 56, was found guilty last year of having two party members paid by a state agency for fake jobs.

The ruling came as his PSD suffered huge losses at the European elections.

Prosecutors said that by using his influence as a government official, Dragnea procured fake jobs at a child protection agency for two women working for his party.

The women admitted to working for the party while receiving salaries from the agency.

Dragnea, who denies any wrongdoing, appealed the initial verdict and was allowed to remain free.

In live footage on Romanian television on Monday, the powerful politician was seen being driven in a police car into the Rahova prison on the outskirts of Bucharest.

Dragnea is widely viewed as the most powerful figure in Romanian politics.

He was barred from becoming prime minister because of a 2016 conviction for vote-rigging.

But observers say he has still wielded power from behind the scenes, directing his PSD and the government they lead.

The politician was a key figure in the PSD's push for controversial judicial reforms, which have chipped away at the independence of the courts, sparking mass protests in Romania and clashes with the European Union.

The ruling on Monday came as Dragnea's PSD suffered major losses in the European election.

The party fell to second place, behind the opposition National Liberal party, gaining less than 23% of the vote.

Dragnea is also under investigation in a separate case for allegedly forming a criminal group to siphon off cash from state projects.

He has maintained his innocence in the cases against him, saying the charges are politically motivated. </s> BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s most powerful politician, Liviu Dragnea, was ordered on Monday to begin serving a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for abuse of power, upending the political order in the East European country and handing a victory to those who view corruption as the chief threat to the health of the nation.

The ruling by the Romanian Supreme Court, which declined to revisit a sentence handed down by a lower court in June 2018, is not subject to appeal. It came one day after Mr. Dragnea’s party, the Social Democrats, were handed a stunning rebuke in elections for the European Parliament.

The Social Democrats received just 23 percent of the vote, down significantly from the 46 percent they received in the last national parliamentary elections, in December 2016. The two main opposition parties combined to secure about 50 percent of the vote.

At the same time, in a nonbinding referendum, an overwhelming majority of voters — more than 80 percent — expressed deep dissatisfaction with attempts by the governing party to change corruption-related laws via emergency decree, and potentially offering amnesty to officials convicted of abusing their power. </s> If Liviu Dragnea's appeal fails he will have to begin his jail sentence on Tuesday (AFP Photo/Daniel MIHAILESCU)

Bucharest (AFP) - A Romanian court on Monday upheld a jail sentence for the powerful head of Romania's ruling Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, meaning he now has 24 hours to report to police to begin his sentence.

The verdict will almost certainly remove from public life a man who is widely seen as the puppet master behind the government.

Dragnea was also a key figure in his party's push for controversial judicial reforms which have led to clashes with Brussels and have overshadowed Romania's first-ever EU presidency.

Dragnea was unsuccessful in his bid to overturn a conviction he received last year for using his influence to procure fake public jobs for two women who were actually working for the Social Democrats (PSD) at the time.

The High Court of Cassation and Justice on Monday confirmed his original three-and-a-half-year jail sentence.

Dragnea was not present in court to hear the verdict.

Despite the PSD's election victory in 2016, Dragnea's deep-seated ambition to become prime minister was thwarted because of a previous suspended jail sentence for electoral fraud.

The verdict also comes on the heels of a stinging defeat for the PSD in Sunday's European parliament elections.

A grim-faced Dragnea appeared in front of the cameras on Sunday night to say the PSD had faced a "storm of hatred" in the election results, with the party falling 12 points from its score in 2014 to 25.8 percent.

Centre-right and liberal opponents, by contrast, racked up almost 50 percent between them.

Young people and city-dwellers turned out in force to express their frustration with the government, with turnout nudging 50 percent.

Florentin Negrutiu, editorial writer for the Digi24 site, said of Monday's court verdict: "This is a victory for the judicial system after two and a half years in which Dragnea has tried to employ all means to stop it working."

On the eve of Monday's court appearance, Dragnea was his normal defiant self, alluding to conspiracies against him and "unimaginable pressure" being exerted on judges to find him guilty.

He also surprised many by saying that he would not challenge incumbent President Klaus Iohannis in elections expected late this year.

Over the past three years, Dragnea and the PSD -- the successor party to the communists -- had courted voters in poorer and more rural areas of the country with generous promises.

Despite not becoming prime minister, the moustachioed leader wielded considerable influence behind the scenes and toppled two prime ministers in just seven months before nominating Viorica Dancila to the post in January 2018.

Analysts say his focus on curtailing the activities of the country's anti-corruption agency has lost the PSD many voters.

His argument was that he wants to put an end to abuses of power by prosecutors "suffered by millions of Romanians".

Dragnea had begun to mimic attacks on the EU of the kind made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, accusing Brussels of "interfering" in Romania's affairs and its sovereignty.

A second headache for the PSD is likely to come in the results from a referendum also held on Sunday on the government's controversial judicial reforms.

Turnout for the vote, called by Iohannis, was well in excess of the 30-percent threshold needed to make the referendum valid and analysts expect voters to have rejected the PSD's plans.

The European Commission on Monday called on the government to listen to the "clear message" from voters and ensure "an independent judicial system which offers no impunity for criminals and no tolerance for corruption".

The Commission has warned sanctions may follow if the government does not change course. </s> BUCHAREST, Romania >> Romania’s most powerful politician was sentenced today to 3½ years in prison for official misconduct in a graft case.

The jail time for Liviu Dragnea, party leader of the ruling Social Democrats, came after a conviction last year for having two party members paid by a public agency for fake jobs.

According to prosecutors, Dragnea intervened from 2008 to 2010, when he was a government official, to keep two women employed by his party on the payroll of the family welfare agency. The women admitted working for the party while they received salaries from the public agency.

Dragnea, already blocked from being Romania’s prime minister because of a 2016 conviction for vote-rigging, was expected to be imprisoned shortly 24 hours.

Hundreds of Romanians took to the streets of Bucharest, the capital, today to celebrate Dragnea’s sentence, some of them posing for pictures with cutouts of Dragnea in prison garb. The ruling party has been widely criticized for failing to fight corruption by officials.

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila refused to comment on the court decision, but acknowledged its impact.

“Regardless of what one feels about Dragnea, his conviction is a difficult moment” for the Social Democratic Party, Dancila said. “It’s a drama for him and his family. We stand by him.”

Victor Ponta, a former prime minister with the Social Democrats and now chairman of Pro Romania Party, was more critical.

“I’m sorry that this man, blinded by pride and viciousness, pulled Romania, the government, parliament, an entire party and the honor of millions of people into a hole with him,” Ponta said in a Facebook post

Dan Barna, chairman of the opposition Save Romania Union party, welcomed the court ruling, which had been delayed for months after Dragnea appealed the June 2018 conviction.

“Today’s ruling ends the Dragnea era, one of the darkest over the last 30 years,” Barna said in a Facebook post. “Romania is getting healthier, we are coming back to Europe.”

Dragnea’s party suffered huge losses in European Parliament election on Sunday, falling to second place behind the opposition National Liberal Party.

Additionally, a non-binding referendum called by President Klaus Iohannis, a government opponent, seeking to pressure the government into stopping efforts to water down anti-corruption measures won support from 80% of voters on Sunday. </s> FILE PHOTO: Social Democratic Party leader Liviu Dragnea reacts during an interview with Reuters, in Bucharest, Romania, May 23, 2018. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea/File Photo via REUTERS

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's Supreme Court upheld a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for graft against ruling Social Democrat Party leader Liviu Dragnea on Monday, one day after his party lost a European election to centrist groupings.

Since coming to power in late 2016, the Social Democrats have steadily chipped away at the independence of the judiciary, raising sharp criticism from the European Union and triggering Romania's largest street protests in decades.

On Sunday, voters overwhelmingly backed a referendum called by centrist President Klaus Iohannis to prevent Dragnea's party from further weakening the courts.

The Supreme Court found 56-year-old Dragnea, who is also speaker of the lower house of parliament, guilty of keeping two women on the payroll of a child protection state agency for years even though they were working for his party.

He appealed against the initial verdict last year and was free pending the appeal, but Monday's ruling was final and he was expected to go to prison later in the day.

Dragnea, who was the first PSD leader to come from outside the capital and has kept a tight grip on the party, was already barred from being prime minister by a previous conviction in a vote rigging case.

Graft issues spurred Romanians to sanction the PSD in the European Parliament election, where the party's support halved to 22.6 percent from the last national ballot in 2016.

Tens of thousands of Romanians working abroad were unable to vote on Sunday after queuing for hours outside consulates and polling stations because of bureaucracy and staffing problems.

Analysts said video footage from voting stations across Europe of Romanians chanting "We want to vote" and "Thieves" amplified the ruling party's loss.

Dragnea, who is also under investigation in a separate case on suspicion of forming a criminal group to siphon off cash from state projects, has denied all charges and repeatedly said he was the victim of a "parallel state" of politically-motivated prosecutors and secret services.

"For sure this news is affecting all of us, our party," Social Democrat vice-president Rodica Nassar told Reuters.

"We will have a party congress in June to assess our position and discuss a new leadership."

With Dragnea jailed, the party will be led in the interim by his protege Prime Minister Viorica Dancila. The party and a junior coalition ally retain a fragile majority in parliament.

Dragnea spent years as county council president of southern Teleorman county - one of Romania's poorest areas - where he started amassing power.

Later, as regional development minister, he created a fund doling out cash with little oversight to county councils and mayors, helping shore up his support.

As party leader and viewed as Romania's most powerful politician, he presided over the judicial changes as well as a slew of tax cuts and wage and pension hikes that look set to send the budget deficit above EU limits.

"On the back of yesterday's voter mobilization and results, today's ruling seems to be the lowest point for the party," said Sergiu Miscoiu, a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University. "But this is still a party which has a quarter of the electorate and there is room for it to rebuild.

"For Romania, it sends a strong signal, it shows the justice system and institutions are working despite all the pressures."
Romania's Supreme Court denies Social Democratic Party leader Liviu Dragnea's appeal of his conviction and three-and-a-half year prison sentence for corruption.