Dan Radu Rusanu, the former president of Romania’s Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), was acquitted of all charges in a corruption case related to bankrupt local insurer Carpatica Asig. Romanian investor Ilie Carabulea, Carpatica Asig’s main shareholder, was sentenced to five years and six months in prison, in the same case.

The anticorruption prosecutors charged Rusanu with setting up an organized crime group, favoring the perpetrator, and allegedly using his influence as head of the ASF to help Carabulea get undue benefits. The crime group, which included former ASF officials and Carpatica Asig managers and board members allegedly had a deal to protect the company from the regulator’s controls. Due to this deal, Carpatica Asig managed to continue its activity despite financial problems.

Carpatica Asig officially went bankrupt at the end of March this year.

The judges of the High Court of Cassation and Justice ruled that former ASF president Dan Radu Rusanu was not involved in the crime group. Four other defendants, including the wife of former finance minister Daniel Chitoiu, were acquitted.

Dan Radu Rusanu was arrested by the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) in February 2014. He was held in preventive arrest for four months and spent another three months under house arrest. The case was sent to court in April 2014.

editor@romania-insider.com