New bribery investigation in Romania targets ex- finance minister, former MP

Prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Department (DNA) have requested the President’s green light to prosecute former finance minister Sebastian Vladescu. The former minister is accused of two bribery offenses. Four other people are investigated under judicial control on bail in the same case, namely former MP Cristian Boureanu, Ionut Costea, a former state secretary in the Ministry of Finance and a former president of EximBank, Constantin Dascalu, state secretary in the Ministry of Transport, and Mihaela Mititelu, a person close to the management of railways company CFR. The case targets the contracts for the rehabilitation of the Bucharest-Constanta railway line, and the recovery of overdue value added tax (VAT) for rehabilitation works on another railway line. Prosecutors say that, between 2005 and 2014, the Romanian officials or other people with influence over them allegedly received around EUR 20 million from a foreign company, based on some agreements. In exchange for these sums, they were supposed to ensure the conclusion of the contracts and the payment of the bills for the rehabilitation of some Bucharest-Constanta railway sections, as well as the payment of overdue VAT for the rehabilitation of another railway line, which was already done by the same company. In the period 2005-2014, representatives of the foreign company allegedly agreed with the former finance minister Sebastian Valdescu, as well as with Ionut Costea and Mihael Mititelu, to pay them, in stages, 3.5% of the amounts collected from the Romanian state. In their turn, the three pledged to take the necessary steps so as to provide additional financing to conclude the contract, and for the subsequent payments for the work to be done on time. The money was sent through a fictitious circuit, which also involved a law firm and several companies controlled by the three. Based on this agreement, the former minister allegedly received EUR 1 million in the period 2008-2009. Also, between 2006 and 2014, Ionut Costea received a total of some EUR 4.5 million while Mihaela Mititelu got around EUR 3 million. All money transfers were made via fictitious contracts, the prosecutors said. Then, in the period 2009-2014, Sebastian Vladescu, Constantin Dascalu and Cristian Boureanu reached yet another agreement with the same company, based on which they were to receive a commission of 10% of the sums received from the Romanian state based on the same railway rehabilitation contracts. They again received big amounts of money through fictitious circuits, the prosecutors said. Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com