Notorious Romanian investor released from prison

Notorious Romanian investor Dorin Cocos, the ex-husband of the former tourism minister Elena Udrea, was released from the Jilava prison yesterday, following a decision of the Ilfov Court. Last year, he received a prison sentence of two years and four months in the Microsoft IT licenses case. However, Cocos stayed in jail only one year. The District 4 Court had previously rejected the investor’s request to be released earlier. Cocos filed an appeal and won. The Microsoft licenses case reached court in March 2015 and ended in October 2016. The case was one of the most notorious corruption cases in Romania in the last years, with re-sellers selling overpriced Microsoft licenses to the state for around ten years. Gheorghe Stefan, former mayor of Piatra Neamt in NE Romania, received six years in prison, former minister Gabriel Sandu got a three-year sentence whereas Dorin Cocos got two years and four months in prison, the same as investor Nicolae Dumitru. The judges also decided to seize large amounts from the four convicts, including EUR 9 million from Cocos. Romania’s Tax Authority (ANAF) has recently sold in an auction 6 out of 14 seized real estate assets, located in Bucharest, belonging to Cocos. ANAF wants to recover part of the EUR 9 million damage. A new Microsoft case has recently reached court. The people indicted this time are local investors Dinu Pescariu and Claudiu Florica, former Microsoft Romania CEO Calin Tatomir and former communications minister Gabriel Sandu. editor@romania-insider.com