Senate rejects USR proposal to modify Criminal Code, Criminal Procedure Code on extended confiscation

The Senate rejected on Tuesday the legislative proposal initiated by the USR (Save Romania Union) MPs regarding the modification of the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code in the sense of extending confiscation powers when it comes to goods resulted from corruption or criminal activities.

There were 116 Senators who voted in favour of the rejection report and 12 against.

The proposal stipulated, among other things, the introduction of a criterion of appreciation based on the difference between the revenues and "the living standard" of the convict, as an indicator of illegality; the possibility of including the wealth of the persons upon which the convict has a certain influence in the calculation of his/her living standards; the possibility of applying the measure of confiscation on the goods transferred to any third party who knew that the purpose of the transfer was to avoid confiscation; the elimination of the 5-year threshold for getting the confiscated goods; the extension of the range of crimes in the case of which the confiscation measure is applied etc.

The proposal is to be debated next by the Deputies Chamber, the decision-making forum in this case.