The ten major corruption cases that keep Romanian prosecutors and judges busy

Corruption is one of Romania’s biggest problems, and local authorities seem to really tackle it. A large number of local politicians and business people are involved in some of the biggest corruption cases in Romania. Some of these cases were closed, after years of trials and investigations, with important names now behind bars. Others are however still open, and in various stages of investigation. Here's a list of ten major cases still ongoing in Romania. The Microsoft IT licenses case The Microsoft IT licenses case is one of the largest cases of corruption in Romania at this time. It targets a big number of politicians and business people. The investigation focuses on the sale of Microsoft licenses and hardware to the Romanian state. In September last year, nine former Romanian ministers were accused of having taken bribes, office abuse or influence trading in this case: Ecaterina Andronescu, Valerian Vreme, Mihailescu Petru Serban, Dan Nica, Ticau Adriana, Gabriel Sandu, Daniel Funeriu, Alexandru Athansaiu and Mihai Tanasescu. On October 28, 2014, the National Anticorruption Directorate detained Romanian businessman Nicolae Dumitru for 24 hours. He was later placed under preventive arrest, which was changed with home arrest in January this year. Former minister Gabriel Sandu is also placed under home arrest in this case. Former tourism minister Elena Udrea is also investigated in this case and was arrested for 30 days earlier this month. She managed however to convince the High Court to overrule the 30-day arrest warrant in her name and to place her under house arrest. Udrea’s ex-husband Dorin Cocos and Piatra Neamt mayor Gheorghe Stefan are still arrested in this case. According to DNA Chief Prosecutor Laura Kovesi, the suspected value of the bribe and influence peddling in this case is around EUR 60 million. Illegal retrocessions – two cases currently ongoing:

• The illegal land retrocession case