Former Romanian President’s nephew sentenced to prison for influence peddling

Dragos Basescu, former Romanian President Traian Basescu's nephew, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison in a case in which he is charged with influence peddling.The Bucharest Court’s decision is not final, however, and can be appealed, reports local Digi24. Prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Department (DNA) sent Dragos Basescu to court in October 2015, for influence peddling. Local businessman Ciprian Nistor also stood trial in this case, for complicity to influence peddling. However, Nistor admitted to the facts last year and, in early-May, he was sentenced to three years in prison, no parole. He challenged the decision to the Bucharest Court of Appeal, which in September ruled the final sentence of three years in prison. DNA prosecutors say that Dragos Basescu, together with Ciprian Nistor, asked EUR 1 million from a local businessman called Sandu Staicu in the spring of 2014, promising that he would use his influence at the Directorate for Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) to help solve a case in his favor. When Staicu said that he didn’t have that kind of money, Basescu suggested that he could conclude a fictitious consultancy contract with an international company, and pay the EUR 1 million in installments, over a period of two years. Dragos Basescu is the son of Mircea Basescu, the former President’s brother, who was sentenced to four years in prison for influence peddling, last summer. Traian Basescu's son-in-law Radu Pricop was also sent to court in June 2015 for corruption offenses. Pricop, who is a lawyer, is married to the former President's older daughter, Ioana Basescu. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com