Former deputy governor of Romania's central bank sent to court for bribery

Romania’s anticorruption prosecutors have indicted former central bank deputy governor Bogdan Olteanu for charges of bribery and influence peddling. Olteanu is currently under house arrest. The case was sent for trial at the High Court of Cassation and Justice. Prosecutors have been also asking for replacing the house arrest measure with judicial control. According to the DNA press-release, Olteanu, who was then the president of the Chamber of Deputies, demanded and received EUR 1 million from an investor between July and November 2008, in exchange for trying to influence the prime minister to appoint a certain person as the governor of the Danube Delta. “Subsequently, as a result of the efforts made by the defendant Olteanu, that person was appointed governor of the Danube Delta on September 18, 2008,” reads the DNA press release. The “investor” was controversial local businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vantu whereas the “governor” was former journalist and environment activist Liviu Mihaiu. editor@romania-insider.com