Romanian prosecutors place former BRD vice-president under judicial control

Romanian prosecutors from the Directorate for Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) decided to investigate Sorin Popa, local lender BRD’s former vice-president, under judicial control, after questioning him for several hours on July 9. Popa is accused of having granted credits that didn’t comply with the bank’s prudential criteria, which were never repaid, thus causing the bank a damage of over EUR 43 million. He is charged for abuse of office and complicity to money laundering, according to judicial sources, cited by local Mediafax. On May 19, the DIICOT prosecutors announced that they were investigating 30 people, former and current BRD employees and local businessmen, who granted/received illegal credits. Philippe Lhotte, BRD Groupe Société Générale general manager, said that he is surprised about the investigation involving two of the bank’s deputy general managers, considering that BRD hasn’t submitted any complaint about them. "This investigation refers to old credit files which we brought to the attention of the investigators almost three years ago. The financial impact of these files was completely covered by provisions back then,” Lhotte said. editor@romania-insider.com