Romanian rail transport tycoon gets 2.5 year probation sentence for bid rigging

Romanian businessman Gruia Stoica, the owner of GFR – the largest private railway freight carrier in Romania, was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months probation for buying influence and trying to rig a public tender. Local business lawyer Doru Bostina also got one year probation in the same case. The two will also have to do community work. Gruia Stoica will have to work 90 days. The High Court’s decision is final. The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) arrested Gruia Stoica in January 2014 and prosecuted him for trying to rig a public tender organized by the electricity producer Complexul Energetic Oltenia. He was accused of paying Doru Bostina EUR 3 million so that he would find the price asked by GFR’s competitor, state-owned CFR Marfa for a coal transport contract auctioned by the electricity producer. He wanted to win the contract by offering a lower price than CFR Marfa. A court in Ploiesti sentenced Gruia Stoica to 4 years in prison no parole, last year, but the High Court of Cassation and Justice reduced the sentenced and turned it into probation. editor@romania-insider.com