Romanian media owner and politician Dan Diaconescu gets jail sentence for blackmail

Romanian media mogul and politician Dan Diaconescu, the owner of former TV station OTV, and the investor who tried to buy chemical producer Oltchim, was sentenced to three years in jail for blackmail. Diaconescu, who founded the OTV tv channel, was sentenced to jail after he blackmailed a mayor and a businessman with the help of two of his employees. They had asked for EUR 200,000, and EUR 100,000 respectively, threatening to reveal negative information about the two. The case started in 2010, when Dan Diaconescu and two of his employees, program director Doru Parv and journalist Mitrus Ghezea were sent to court for having blackmailed Ion Mot, the mayor of Zarand, a locality in Arad county, and businessman Paul Petru Tardea. The tv owner, producer and journalist threatened in 2009 to reveal on tv either real or made up facts about the mayor, who ended up paying EUR 30,000 and RON 42,000. In the businessman's case, a similar procedure was used, back in 2005. While the asked sum was of EUR 100,000, the blackmailers settled for EUR 4,500. Prosecutors had asked for nine years in jail for Diaconescu, eight for Doru Parv, and seven for Mitrus Ghezea. The court however ruled three years in jail for Diaconescu, three for Parv, and two and a half, for Ghezea. The sentence is not final, and it can be further appealed. Dan Diaconescu tried to buy the state – owned chemical producer Oltchim in 2012, and won the bid, but failed to pay up the pledged amount. editor@romania-insider.com