Costea & Vlădescu Released: High Court Ruling Explained

How does the High Court explain the decision to release Costea and Vlădescu

The High Court of Cassation and Justice (ÎCCJ) explains that the release of Sebastian Vlădescu and Mircea Ionuț Costea, ascertained by the prescription of criminal liability, was a mandatory application of Decision no. 50/2025 of the Constitutional Court. The court emphasizes that, although the criminal action is extinguished, the civil obligations and patrimonial confiscation measures ordered remain valid, thus ensuring the public interest in the recovery of damages.

“Today’s decisions by which Sebastian Vlădescu and Mircea Ionuț Costea were set at liberty following the establishment of the prescription of criminal liability are a consequence of the application of Decision no. 50/2025 of the Constitutional Court, which reaffirms the principle according to which the criminal procedural law must respect the right to defense, equal opportunities and effective access to Justice. At the same time, it clearly decides that the procedural changes do not compromise civil responsibility or patrimonial measures existing”, it is stated in a press release of the ÎCCJ.

Costea and Vlădescu will have to give the money back

The CCR decision affects only the criminal aspect of the cases in question, the civil obligations and confiscation measures ordered remain valid.

Thus, in the mentioned cases it was decided as follows:

1. In file no. 1946/1/2023* – the defendants Sebastian Vlădescu and Mircea Ionuț Costea remain to pay:
   a) the amounts of 3,990,248.60 lei and 65,000 Eurodamage charged to Sebastian Vlădescu, and the special confiscation of the amount of 2.177.000 euro from the same defendant;
   b) the amounts of 3,121,328.41 lei and 1,919,900 Euro, damage charged to Mircea Ionuț Costea;
   At the same time, the insurance measures instituted were maintained until the confiscation of the confiscated amounts, resulting in the ordered civil measures totaling 7,111,577.01 RON and 4,161,9000 Euro.
2. In file no. 1783/1/2023* – the defendant Darius Vâlcov remains to pay the amount of 6,200,000 lei, representing the damage retained in his charge. The insurance measures instituted in order to recover the damage were maintained.

Ionuț Costea was a fugitive and caught in Turkey

The Bucharest court issued a sentencing warrant for Costea after he was caught in Istanbul on February 5, 2025. The Romanian authorities collaborated with the Turkish authorities to locate him and start extradition procedures.

In May 2023, Ionuț Costea was convicted of complicity in bribery in a corruption case related to the works on the Bucharest-Constanța railway. The former Minister of Finance, Sebastian Vlădescu, was also convicted in the same case.

What is prescription release?

Release by prescription is the termination of the execution of a sentence as a result of the expiration of a legal period established by law (such as, in the Criminal Code, the periods of limitation of criminal liability or, more rarely, the prescription of the execution of the sentence). This mechanism acts as an impediment to enforcement, preventing the state from further enforcing the sentence, even if there has been a final conviction.

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