Former Romanian economy minister, fertilizer tycoon sent to court for damaging gas producer

Former Romanian economy minister Adriean Videanu and local businessman Ioan Niculae, the owner of several fertilizer plants and other business in agriculture and industry, were sent to court on Friday alongside nine other defendants, for setting up an organized crime group and embezzling money from state-owned gas producer Romgaz. The prosecutors of the Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime and Terrorism – DIICOT said that the group’s objective was to get state-owned Romgaz to deliver natural gas to Ioan Niculae’s Interagro group at below market prices. The gas producer officially granted discounts for the gas purchases made by Interagro although Niculae’s group didn’t meet the legal conditions to get these discounts. The scheme was initially run with the help of Romgaz managers but former economy minister Adriean Videanu also issued an emergency ordinance which allowed Interagro to purchase cheaper gas from Romgaz. This resulted into lower profits for Romgaz and higher profits for Interagro, which used the natural gas to produce fertilizers at its six fertilizer plants. The prosecutors calculated damages worth RON 282 million (over EUR 60 mln). editor@romania-insider.com