Judge Toni Grebla, 61, resigned from the bench Wednesday after prosecutors requested the Senate to approve a notice required for his criminal indictment, arrest, and 30-day pre-trial detention. According to Romania's Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), Grebla set up a criminal organization that produced falsified customs documents to smuggle food into Russia, which has banned food imports from the European Union (EU).
The DNA release states that Grebla acted directly and through middlemen to facilitate trade between Romania and Russia through Turkey to evade the Russian embargo. In 2014, Grebla allegedly helped his godson, Ion Bircina, to export meat from Romanian slaughterhouses to Russia and Moldova with the help of a Turkish citizen and two Moldovans.
All individuals involved are being investigated.
Prosecutors are also investigating actions allegedly taken by Grebla during his time as a senator in Parliament, before he was appointed to the Constitutional Court in 2013. They say Grebla received a BMW car, dresses for his wife, and free use of a phone line as bribes from several commercial companies in exchange for his help in pushing legislation favorable to the companies, which dealt with energy, transport, and scrap iron.
Grebla, who denies all of the charges, has not been detained. After his resignation, a Constitutional Court press release emphasized the need for investigators to respect the presumption of innocence.
