Romania’s anticorruption prosecutors have added new tax evasion charges against the managers of Apa Nova, a company owned by French group Veolia, which manages the water supply and sewage systems in Bucharest.

Apa Nova has been involved in the past weeks in one of the biggest corporate corruption scandals in Romania, after the prosecutors found that the company’s managers bribed local officials to allow the company to increase the tap water price in Bucharest.

The company’s current and former directors, including French expats Laurent Lalague and Bruno Roche, also allegedly recorded fictitious invoices to lower the Apa Nova’s official profit and avoid paying some EUR 5.5 million in taxes, according to the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA).

Lavinia Saniuta, general director of Apa Nova, has been placed under judicial control by the DNA prosecutors for tax evasion and money laundering, in addition to charges of influence peddling and invasion of privacy. The company’s deputy director Giovana Soare and the head of security within the firm have also been placed under judicial control.

Apa Nova’s managers apparently also hired a private firm owned by a local businessman to install surveillance equipment in the company’s offices and monitor Apa Nova’s employees so that they wouldn’t tell on the company’s illegal activities.

editor@romania-insider.com