Romanian PM Victor Ponta under criminal prosecution

UPDATE 2: In a post on his Facebook account, consisted in four phrases each of them ended in an exclamation mark, PM Victor Ponta said that he met president Iohannis and he respects his standpoint, "but I've been appointed by the Parliament and only the Parliament could sack me!"

"I cannot accept that a DNA prosecutor is above Parliament, government and citizens! That would be a dictatorship and after 25 years from 1989 it would be a big mistake for all of us!", said Mr. Ponta on Facebook.

UPDATE 1: President Klaus Iohannis asked for PM resignation.

In a short declaration, Mr. Iohannis said that "the worse think could happen in Romania is a political crisis".

"A prime minister under investigation is an impossible situation for Romania", said president Iohannis.

The president's declaration has been made after a meeting with Mr. Ponta, at Cotroceni Presidential Palace.
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Anti-corruption prosecutors in Romania said in a statement that they put prime minister Victor Ponta under criminal prosecution for forgery, complicity in tax evasion, money laundering and conflict of interest.

The prosecutors claim that between 2007 and 2008, Victor Ponta cashed in 181,439 lei (cca 41,000 euros) from the law firm "Sova and Associates".

The money was meant to cover attorney services from Victor Ponta's law firm and it has been paid out in 17 installments, until the month Victor Ponta became prime minister.

PM Victor Ponta is a suspect in an

anti-corruption file from 2007-2008.

But the prosecutors said that the services was never fulfilled, and Victor Ponta and Dan Sova, a former ministry in Mr. Ponta's cabinets and associate in the law firm "Sova and Associates", tried to make up false evidence of their collaboration.

The prosecutors claim, too, that "Sova and Associates" law firm gave for free to Mr. Ponta a Mitsubishi Lancer car.

Mr. Sova is prosecuted too, and his case has been raised in Senate this week, in a controversial vote.

Mr. Ponta was questioned this morning at DNA's headquarter in Bucharest.

On his way out from the hearings, he said he is "a suspect in Dan Sova's case".

"I am suspect of conflict of interest too, since Dan Sova was member in my cabinets", said the prime minister Victor Ponta.

He didn't answer if he will resign, but he said that the political decisions "are taken in Parliament, not in the DNA headquarter".

DNA - in romanian: Departamentul National Anticoruptie - is a special department of the prosecutors meant to deal with high level corruption in administration.