Romanian ruling party’s former treasurer formally indicted for embezzlement

The prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) announced that they sent to court the former treasurer of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Mircea Draghici, for alleged embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds.

Draghici said in a Facebook post that he was “really amazed” by the prosecutors’ decision to change his statute from suspect to defendant arguing that “there is absolutely no reason and no sustainable argument.”

The prosecutors are investigating the use of EUR 380,000 transferred from the electoral body AEP as a subsidy for PSD.

Draghici was dismissed from his position of PSD treasurer by prime minister Viorica Dancila, who also serves as the interim president of the party. Draghici served as head of the party's campaign in the elections for the European Parliament.

On April 2, the DNA announced that the PSD treasurer was a suspect in an embezzlement investigation. The prosecutors believe that he illegally took EUR 380,000 from the subsidies PSD received from the state through a rental agreement. Draghici signed on behalf of PSD a 10-year lease on a property that he ended up owning.

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