Romanian journalist, accused of having taken a bribe from Ericsson, takes his accusers to court

Romanian journalist Bogdan Chireac will go to court against Romanian broker Cristian Sima, who fled the country allegedly with clients' money. Chireac has demanded USD 1.5 million in damages from Sima, who accused the journalist of having taken a bribe from Ericsson just before the company won the 112 emergency number contract in Romania. Sima said he had proofs of the money wire between Ericsson and the Romanian journalist back in 2000.

Bogdan Chireac hired Chiuariu & Asociatii law firm and took the broker, who is now in Iceland, to court. “The documents are fake,” said Bogdan Chireac. He will also go to court against journalist Liviu Avram, the deputy editor in chief of Adevarul newspaper, who wrote an article accusing Chireac of taking a bribe. The lawyers will ask for a USD 640,000 damage in this case. Chireac already filed a complaint in court, after having lost a business contract following the public accusations. Cristian Sima, a broker and former general manager of the Sibiu Stock Exchange, left Romania after allegedly losing EUR 3.5 million of his clients' money. The broker was operating through a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, which makes it hard for the Romanian authorities to recover the money. Bogdan Chireac is a Romanian journalist and businessman, who had leading positions in the newspapers Adevarul and Gandul. Now he appears as a political analyst on various TV shows. In 2010, he set up the online publication DCNews. editor@romania-insider.com