The National Liberal Party (PNL) has outstanding debts from the 2020 local elections, involving four local branches, as well as from the 2024 elections, which it needs to reschedule and repay, party leader Ilie Bolojan said on Monday.

He said the party would make public details of all the spending, including amounts covered by members' donations and public funds, but that the exact amounts cannot yet be disclosed, as they depend on penalties and ongoing negotiations.

Bolojan said that those who signed contracts exceeding the limits set by the party's statute, without approval from the national leadership, should be held responsible for the resulting debts.

He explained that local branches were authorised to sign contracts only up to a certain threshold, with approval from the national treasury structure required for larger commitments. Some contracts had exceeded that limit without the necessary approval and remained unpaid, leading creditors to take legal action and courts to award penalties.

The party should therefore seek to recover the amounts from those responsible for breaching its rules and failing to honour the contracts, unless an agreement can be reached with creditors to reschedule the payments, Bolojan said.

He added that penalties under some contracts could amount to several times the original debt.

On Sunday, the PNL National Political Bureau unanimously approved the launch of procedures to recover amounts owed for unpaid invoices or contracts signed during election campaigns in breach of the party statute.

The PNL has also definitively lost its lawsuit against the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP) and must repay RON 14 million to the state budget. The amount represents public funding received for Nicolae Ciuca's 2024 presidential campaign. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Alina Novaceanu; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)