Romanian high agriculture official, who manages EUR 2.5 bln budget, held in corruption case

The general manager of Romania’s Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA), Dorel Gheorghe Benu, was held for 24 hours by prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) after he was taken in for questioning yesterday. Prosecutors also asked the court for his preventive arrest for 30 days, which should be judged on Thursday, June 6 by the Suceava Court of Appeal, according to a DNA official announcement. Benu is one of the suspects in a corruption case that involves granting illegal agricultural subsidies to farmers in Suceava county, according to judicial sources. The investigation targets subsidies granted between 2012 and 2014, the damage in this case amounting to over RON 5 million (some EUR 1.1 million). Benu is being investigated for aiding and abetting the deputy director of APIA Suceava, who was running this scheme, for which he allegedly received undue amounts of money. Some 20 people are investigated in this case, including the general manager and advisors of APIA, veterinarians from the Veterinary and Food Safety Directorate DSVSA Suceava, a lawyer, a priest, policemen and farmers. The Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA) is subordinated to the Romanian Agriculture Ministry. It manages the payments for European funds financed programs aimed at helping Romanian farmers. The total value of payments managed by APIA is expected to be some EUR 2.5 billion, according to official data published by the institution. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com