Former Romanian Post director prosecuted for taking EUR 1.6 mln bribe

The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) has started the prosecution of former Romanian Post manager Mihai Toader, on charges of bribery and money laundering. The prosecutors say that Toader received EUR 1.6 million to award a contract to a certain company. In 2008, Mihai Toader, who was the general manager of the Romanian Post at that time, allegedly received EUR 1.6 million from a Cypriot software company, through an intermediary, according to DNA. In exchange, the director awarded a public procurement contract to that company. “It is worth mentioning that the software programs sold by the company to C.N. Posta Romana S.A. with EUR 6,583,000 actually cost EUR 500,000,” reads the DNA statement. From the EUR 6.58 million, the Cypriot company transferred EUR 3.88 million to accounts opened at a bank in Switzerland by three offshore companies controlled by the two other defendants in this case, Prisecari Ovidiu and Constantinescu Georgeta. Then, Prisecari and Constantinescu transferred EUR 1.6 million into an account opened by a Romanian company at an Austrian bank. The money represented the bribe intended for the general manager of the Romanian Post. The rest of the money went to accounts in Switzerland opened by two offshore companies also controlled by Prisecari Ovidiu and Constantinescu Georgeta. Mihai Toader was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison in 2015, together with three other managers of the Romanian Post, for abuse of office. Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com