Romanian businessman gets 6-year sentence for bribing a state secretary

Romanian businessman Catalin Chelu, one of the biggest private investors on the Romanian capital market, was convicted by the Bucharest Appeal Court to six years in jail for bribing a state secretary. The court also decided that he cannot hold any position in a private company for a five-year period, according to Mediafax newswire. Chelu controls directly or through middlemen more than 20 listed companies. Most of his companies are listed on the RASDAQ segment of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, but he also owns some companies listed on the main market, including vacuum cleaner producer Electroarges from Curtea de Arges and auto component producer Altur Slatina. Chelu was caught in the act while trying to bribe Dan Valentin Fatuloiu, a former state secretary in the Internal Affairs Ministry, back in December 2010. He had promised EUR 1 million to Fatuloiu to help him with some criminal cases in which he was investigated at the time. Fatuloiu denounced Chelu and cooperated with the police in setting up the flagrant. editor@romania-insider.com