Bucharest Court of Appeal sentenced Ovidiu Putura, a former state secretary within the Justice Ministry, to five years in prison, no parole, for bribery. The court’s decision is not final, however, reports local News.ro.

Putura was arrested in January 2015. His trial started in April the same year, and ended in September 2016. The High Court of Cassation and Justice will have the final say in this case if the Court of Appeal’s decision is challenged.

According to the National Anticorruption Department (DNA), in 2014, Putura told a judge from Bistrita Court that he would use his influence as state secretary to make sure that her son would pass the exam for trainee notaries in 2015. In return, Ovidiu Putura asked the judge to give a favorable ruling in a case in which his wife was the claimant.

He was also accused of receiving a EUR 30,000 bribe for intervening in another case.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com