Nicușor Dan signs retirement decree for prosecutor tied to Traian Băsescu’s Fleet case

Romanian President Nicușor Dan has signed the retirement decree for prosecutor Vasile Drăghici, one of the magistrates associated with the long-running Fleet case involving former President Traian Băsescu.

Dan signed nine decrees on Tuesday, covering five judges and four prosecutors. Drăghici’s release from office took effect on Sept. 1, 2026, according to the presidential decree. He served at the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Constanța Court of Appeal and had been delegated as head of its criminal investigation section.

Drăghici became nationally known in 2004 after signing the Fleet case indictment with prosecutor Ioan Oțel. The case sent dozens of defendants to trial, including Băsescu, who had served as transport minister and later became president. The investigation examined the disposal of ships belonging to CNM Petromin, with prosecutors at the time estimating losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Oțel, a former head of the Constanța branch of the National Anticorruption Directorate, was found dead at his home in 2011. In 2015, DNA closed the Fleet case, saying the alleged abuse of office by Băsescu did not exist because his decisions as transport minister between 1990 and 1992 and between 1996 and 2000 had not caused, or led to, damage to CNM Petromin.

Drăghici later continued working at the Constanța Court of Appeal prosecutor’s office and took part in professional training through Romania’s National Institute of Magistracy. The other prosecutors named in the retirement decrees were Cornelia Dumitrescu, Venera-Grațiela Lăzureanu and Laurențiu Bratosin, all serving at the same court of appeal prosecutor’s office.

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Decree releasing Vasile Drăghici from the office of prosecutor, Mr. Drăghici Vasile, prosecutor within the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Constanța Court of Appeal, delegated as prosecutor-in-chief of the criminal investigation section at the same prosecutorial unit, with a professional rank corresponding to the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice.