MEP Monica Macovei asks for exclusion of Victor Ponta from Bucharest Bar

MEP Monica Macovei on Tuesday requested lawyer Ion Ilie-Iordachescu, the dean of the Bucharest Bar, to expel Prime Minister Victor Ponta from the Bucharest Bar, motivating that his giving up the title of doctor of law means also the annulment of his diploma based on which he was admitted in the bar in the first place.

Photo credit:(c) Grigore POPESCU / AGERPRES PHOTO

'Mr. Victor Ponta's decision to give up his title of doctor of law consequentially cancels the Decision No. 644 as of January 7, 2005, based on which he was admitted in the bar in the first place, without the need for him to pas the bar exam that is, as according to article 16, paragraph (2), letter a) of the Law No. 51/1995. Someone who hasn't got a diploma of doctor of law cannot be admitted to exercise the profession of a lawyer unless he/she passes the bar exam first, which means in the given context that Mr. Victor Ponta's capacity as a lawyer has ceased,' Monica Macovei said in the letter.

Moreover, she also specified in the press release to AGERPRES accompanying her letter that, if Mr. Ponta wishes to be a lawyer, he needs to pass the exam bar first and follow the procedures step by step, 'the same as any other candidate would do.'

'Ponta cannot give up his title of doctor without losing his title as a university lecturer, without being expelled from the bar and without returning the money he won in the meantime as a lawyer, including the agreements that he concluded with the state as a lawyer," said Monica Macovei. AGERPRES