Former Romanian anticorruption prosecutor placed under preventive custody

The Romanian High Court approved the request filed by prosecutors of the special investigative body SIIJ to put under preventive Police custody for 30 days former anticorruption prosecutor Mircea Negulescu, G4media.ro reported.

Negulescu, who worked for the National Anticorruption Directorate's Prahova regional office, is investigated for abuses in an investigation against former prime minister Victor Ponta.

DNA prosecutors alleged that, in 2012, when Ponta was prime minister and president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), he indirectly received EUR 220,000 from businessman Sebastian Ghita in exchange for placing him on the electoral lists for the parliamentary elections. Ghita, who was eventually elected to the Parliament, allegedly paid for organizing a conference attended by "a high-profile political leader" with the special participation of the PSD leader. The political leader in question was former British PM Tony Blair, which is why the case became known as the "Tony Blair case."

Mircea Negulescu was suspended in March 2018 for abuses during corruption investigations. In April 2019, he lost his magistrate status.

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