Over two weeks ago, more precisely on April 14, I sent requests for clarifications to the press offices of the Ministry of Justice and PICCJ regarding what was then a mysterious joint visit by the heads of the two institutions to Brazil, without any public agenda and in quite a bit of secrecy.
Information about this visit and the remarkable delegation that went there on public funds had already appeared in the Brazilian press.
According to the Brazilians, the Romanian delegation included not only Alina Gorghiu and Alex Florența, but also the head of the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ), Alina Corina Corbu, the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice Cătălin Oțel, and Georgian Pop, the head of the National Reserves Administration.
Quite atypical for a foreign trip, Minister Gorghiu did not request any specialized work for the visit to Brazil.
I therefore requested the Ministry of Justice to specify all the details of the visit, including, of course, the costs, the complete composition of the delegation, the tasks each member had there, and the reason why the Minister's public agenda did not mention even the slightest reference to that visit.
I also requested the Public Ministry to specify the details, including the cost from public funds, of Prosecutor General Alex Florența's visit to Brazil and how many other foreign visits Mr. Alex Florența has made since the beginning of his term, their combined duration and cost.
The next day, on April 15, I received a registration number from PICCJ, but the Ministry of Justice did not find it necessary to do the same.
On April 25, after 10 days, the Public Ministry informed me that they needed more time.
It is difficult to understand why "the matter requires a longer time interval for resolution." The costs of the visit to Brazil, concluded a few days ago, were probably still on the accounting table: accommodation, plane tickets, a few receipts, possibly per diem.
And if so much effort is needed to systematize the rest of Prosecutor General Florența's foreign visits, does that mean there were a lot of them and with very high costs? That's the only way to explain the difficulty in providing a precise answer in 10 days.
The Ministry of Justice has exceeded the 10-day deadline without any response, blatantly violating Law 544 regarding access to public information.
This wouldn't be the first time that the Ministry of Justice under Ms. Gorghiu's leadership has violated the law. In January, I made a request to which I have yet to receive any response. Of course, the absence of a response is also a response.
Sources from the Ministry of Justice say that the delay is caused by the fact that no one is currently willing to take responsibility for a lie in an official response, and the real costs of the Brazilian escapade are quite high to avoid sparking a scandal. So, the work has been repeatedly returned, hoping to find someone to cut down the figures.
Diplomatic sources say that there was accommodation in a luxury club, with prices to match, Palácio Tangará Sao Paulo. The cheapest room costs 500 euros per night. The one who allegedly ensured everything was top-notch was Mr. Oțel. Sources from SpotMedia.ro claim that only the plane tickets cost 13 thousand lei per person.
Moreover, two very important institutions for law enforcement are violating it and are scrambling to embellish reality so that two high-ranking officials are not forced to officially acknowledge how much public money they spent on their unnecessary escapade for the taxpayer.