Former Romanian youth and sports minister gets 5-year jail sentence

Romania’s High Court of Cassation and Justice sentenced former Romanian youth and sports minister Monica Iacob Ridzi to five years in jail, no parole, for abuse of office. Her former counselor Ioana Varsta also got five years in prison. The decisions are final, which means that both Ridzi and Varsta will serve time, according to Mediafax. The five judges who made the decision in this case found Ridzi guilty of abuse of office related to the organizing of the Youth Days (Zilele Tineretului) festivities, in 2009. Ridzi illegally granted the contracts for the organization of the event, totaling some EUR 700,000, to two private firms, Artisan Consulting SRL and Compania de Publicitate Mark SRL. The contracts were strongly overvalued compared to the sums that had been approved in the ministry’s annual budget. The ministry was damaged some EUR 650,000. Ridzi also used an accomplice to delete any relevant computer files and emails related to the organizing of the event, according to the anticorruption prosecutors. Monica Iacob Ridzi, 37, was Minister of Youth and Sports from December 2008 until July 2009. She resigned after a parliamentary commission started an investigation on her on the possible embezzlement of money related to the Youth Days festivities. editor@romania-insider.com