Four former Romanian ministers investigated for abuse of office

Romanian prosecutors from the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) have demanded the prosecution of four former ministers for mishandling the recovery of local refinery Petromidia’s debt to the state budget. The prosecutors have asked President Klaus Iohannis to approve the investigation of the four former officials. The former ministers include Mihai Tanasescu, Dan Ioan Popescu, Sebastian Vladescu, and Gheorghe Pogea. The DIICOT prosecutors sent yesterday to the General Prosecutor information and documents showing that the former ministers allegedly joined a criminal group and committed abuse of office. They are also investigated for complicity in embezzlement. Between September and October 2003, Finance Minister Mihai Tanasescu and Economy Minister Dan Ioan Popescu exercised their duties in bad faith, according to prosecutors. In an agreement with Romanian businessman Dinu Patriciu, Philip Stephenson, and Alexandru Nicolcioiu, the former ministers initiated a law that converted the debt of USD 603 million of the Rompetrol refinery in bonds written by the Finance Ministry, in 2003. Sebastian Vladescu and George Pogea, who were finance ministers after that, did nothing to have the bonds listed on the capital market, which would have allowed the state to sell some of them and recover some of the money. editor@romania-insider.com