Former Romanian development minister, media owner sent to court

Former development minister Elena Udrea and media owner Dan Andronic were sent to court yesterday for influence peddling and money laundering, respectively for perjury. Udrea, who was very close to former president Traian Basescu, is accused of having accepted a bribe of almost USD 5 million to convince state-owned power producer Hidroelectrica’s managers to maintain a series of contracts that were damaging to the company. She allegedly exerted her influence on decision makers within the Ministry of Economy and those within Hidroelectrica in order to maintain, under the already negotiated conditions, the contracts that local investor Bogdan Buzaianu had concluded with Hidroelectrica. The former development minister received USD 3.8 million through intermediaries in November 2011, as well as a claim of EUR 900,000. This represented the amount that Buzaianu had lent to a third party and was guaranteed by the shares of a media company holding two publications. This claim gave Udrea control over the company owning the Evenimentul Zilei newspaper. Dan Andronic was then the owner of the Evenimentul Zilei newspaper. The prosecutors accused him of making false statements during the hearings in this case. editor@romania-insider.com