President Nicușor Dan promised to make his asset declaration public „within 15 days of taking over the presidency of Romania,” after being repeatedly asked who funded his campaign for the presidential elections.
However, the deadline promised by Nicușor Dan expired last week. Moreover, on Monday, June 16, the official deadline for submitting annual asset/interest declarations also expired.
The Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) decided at the end of May that public officials and dignitaries are no longer required to include their spouses' assets or income in their asset and interest declarations. Additionally, the CCR declared unconstitutional the law article that stipulates the obligation to publish declarations on the National Integrity Agency's website.
But President Nicușor Dan stated that he will publish his asset declaration on the Presidential Administration's website if the CCR decision prohibits the National Integrity Agency from publishing it.
"If the law prohibits the National Integrity Agency from publishing it, I will publish it on the Presidency's page, that's not a problem," said Nicușor Dan.
According to the legal provisions that were in force until the CCR decision was published in the Official Gazette, these income declarations had to be completed and published by June 15, both on the institution's website where the respective dignitary or public official serves and on the asset and interest declaration portal hosted by the National Integrity Agency.
With the entry into force of the CCR decision, these declarations must be submitted to the National Integrity Agency, without any other obligations.
The funding of Nicușor Dan's electoral campaign has been a favorite subject for his opponents and their supporters who have attacked him on several occasions.
In a televised debate with Elena Lasconi and Crin Antonescu, Nicușor Dan stated that information about donors and the individuals who lent him money is communicated in real time to the Romanian state.
"Information about my donors from previous elections is in my asset declarations. It is also the right of the person (the donor - ed.) not to be involved in this campaign, which can be very damaging to their image. You will have the information immediately after the elections," Nicușor Dan said at that time.
At that time, the PSD conveyed that Nicușor Dan's repeated refusal to disclose the identity of his donors, who gave him huge sums of money, up to the maximum threshold of 200 minimum wages, raises "reasonable suspicions that these funds come from controversial sources."
The Social Democrats stated that these suspicions are even greater considering that some of his donors from previous campaigns subsequently received public money contracts without a tender or various leadership positions in the administration of the Capital.
Nicușor Dan has been accused by his adversaries that his main financier is businessman Matei Păun, but the current president categorically rejected this hypothesis.
Nicușor Dan stated at the end of April that Matei Păun is not his campaign manager, nor the financier of his presidential campaign, and that he will not have any position at the Cotroceni Palace.