ANAF accounts risk being garnished for judges’ outstanding salaries

The tax authority’s accounts risk being garnished as part of enforcement proceedings requested by 47 judges to recover outstanding salary entitlements. The procedure concerns the Argeș Tribunal, and the amount claimed has reached 30.6 million lei.

In August, the magistrates obtained an order garnishing the tribunal’s accounts over an initial debt of 26.9 million lei. Subsequently, the value of the claim was increased. The tribunal did not specify what funds it could make available to the tax administration, prompting the Argeș County Public Finance Administration to warn ANAF of the risk that the Ploiești Regional Public Finance Directorate could become the debtor in the proceedings. In this scenario, its available funds accounts could themselves be garnished.

The situation is possible because the magistrates are attempting to recover through enforcement salary entitlements established by court rulings. A similar case occurred in May, when 50 vehicles belonging to the Bucharest tax authority were placed under seizure.

The salary dispute has also reached the Constitutional Court, which rejected as inadmissible Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s referral concerning a constitutional conflict with the High Court of Cassation and Justice. The HCCJ is expected to rule on the appeal concerning the funds needed for payment, with the total amount at stake estimated at approximately one billion euros.