UN Office for Drugs and Crime says 2003 convention could enable Romania to seek the extradition of officials sentenced or on trial for graft – who have fled to countries that have no sign extradition treaties with Bucharest.
Romania is exploring ways to extradite high-profile former officials who are on trial for corruption and seeking political asylum in Costa Rica or Madagascar – which have not signed extradition treaties with Bucharest.
The UN Office for Drugs and Crime in Vienna said extradition from Costa Rica to Romania is possible on the basis of the 2003 UN Convention Against Corruption, which most UN member states have recognised, and which Costa Rica has recognised as a basis for extradition in the past.
“Costa Rica takes the Convention as the legal basis for cooperation on extradition,” the UNODC country report for Costa Rica reads.
A UNODC spokesman also told the Romanian daily Adevarul that Romania could use the convention as grounds for extradition from Madagascar.
Romanian anti-graft prosecutors have indicted scores of politicians, including former prime-minister, ministers and MPs, in recent years.
But several business people and politicians, including Elena Udrea, who was tourism minister from 2008 to 2009 and as regional development and tourism minister from 2009 to 2012, and Radu Mazare, former mayor of Constanta, have meanwhile moved to countries such as Costa Rica or Madagascar, which have no extradition agreements with Bucharest.
Udrea, who was sentenced to six years in prison for corruption by a first instance court and is currently awaiting a ruling on her appeal, took refuge in Costa Rica in February, saying on social media that she was carrying twins and needed a quiet vacation.
However, on April 13, she announced though her lawyer that she had applied for political asylum in Costa Rica to avoid extradition to Romania.
Udrea is on trial in two of Romania’s most high-profile corruption cases. She was sentenced last year for her role in the illegal financing of a boxing gala in 2011.
Prosecutors started the inquiry after an investigation revealed in April 2012 that the tourism ministry paid some two million euros in EU funds to a private company, while the money was disguised as a contract to promote Romania’s image via this sports event.
The European Commission’s antifraud department, OLAF, froze the payment in 2011.
In May 2017, Udrea was also indicted, together with former President Traian Basescu’s eldest daughter, Ioana, for their alleged role in the illegal funding of the presidential electoral campaign in 2009. Udrea has said her indictments were politically motivated.
Former organised crime chief prosecutor Alina Bica, who is also seeking political asylum in Costa Rica, is on trial for alleged bribery and abuse of office in a real estate transaction in 2011 that was over-evaluated by 62 million euros.
The two women were photographed together in Costa Rica at the beginning of March 2018.
At hearings last week, Bica and Udrea’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to allow them to watch the proceedings by tele-conference due to their alleged “refugee” status. The court refused, arguing that they were only applicants for political asylum.
On January 3, Romania began extradition procedures for Radu Mazare, the former mayor of Constanta, after he fled to Madagascar, disregarding meetings with his parole officer.
Mazare was given a suspended sentence last year of four years’ suspended jail for selling dozens of kilometers of public beaches to various business people. It was deemed Romania’s longest corruption trial, after it lasted nine years.
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