Former Romanian Finance Minister charged with setting up criminal group

Former Finance Minister Mihai Tanasescu has been prosecuted for complicity to embezzlement, abuse of office, and setting up an organized criminal group in a case related to the Petromidia refinery privatization. The prosecutors of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) had asked for the prosecution of four former ministers in this file, namely Mihai Tanasescu, Dan Ioan Popescu, Sebastian Vladescu, and Gheorghe Pogea, and President Klaus Iohannis approved DIICOT’s request at the beginning of May. DIICOT prosecutors seized EUR 665 million worth of assets owned by KMG International, Oilfield Exploration Business Solutions, and Rompetrol Rafinare in a case related to the Petromidia refinery privatization, in May. Petromidia, Romania’s biggest oil refinery, is the most important asset of the KMG International group. KMG International announced it would sue the Romanian state at international courts. editor@romania-insider.com