Romania’s prime minister-designate and leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL), Ludovic Orban, revealed that he currently works in the private sector, during his ministers’ hearings in the Parliament’s specialty committees on Tuesday, October 29.

Senator Daniel Zamfir, a former PNL member, asked Orban if he was unemployed as previously suggested by the leader of the Liberal Democrats (ALDE), Calin Popescu-Tariceanu.

Unlike Mr. Zamfir, I don’t live off public money, as he lives from his salary at the Senate. I couldn’t run for Romania’s Parliament because I respected integrity criteria and, until the court ruled my innocence by final decision, I didn’t run for the Parliament. I’ve been employed in the private sector. I’m working for the third private company, which has no connection and no contract with the state,” Orban said, according to Mediafax. He didn’t mention the name of the company.

The third biggest company in Romania by revenues is OMV Petrom SA, which comes after Automobile Dacia and OMV Petrom Marketing SA. Next in the ranking are Rompetrol Rafinare and Rompetrol Downstream. However, although both OMV Petrom and Rompetrol Rafinare are controlled by foreign groups, the Romanian state has significant stakes in both companies.

Retailer Kaufland and car producer Ford Romania are next in the ranking of the biggest private companies in Romania.

Ludovic Orban hasn’t published his wealth statement since 2017 as he doesn’t hold any public position.

Orban was a transport minister in the cabinet of Calin Popescu Tariceanu (between April 2007 and December 2008). He was also a member of the Chamber of Deputies between 2008 and 2016.

In 2016, the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) sent Orban to court in a corruption case related to the financing of his campaign for mayor of Bucharest. Orban withdrew from the race and didn’t run in the parliamentary elections in December 2016. In March 2018, the High Court ruled he was not guilty, the decision being final.

Ludovic Orban graduated from the Brasov University as a machinery engineer, in 1988. Since 1992, he has worked only in the public sector, first in the local administration and then in the central administration and Parliament.

editor@romania-inisder.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea)