RO anticorruption prosecutors ask for 10-year jail sentence for former Chamber speaker

The prosecutors of Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) have asked for a 10-year jail sentence for Bogdan Olteanu, a former Chamber of Deputies speaker and influential member of the National Liberal Party (PNL) until 2009, when he gave up party membership to serve as deputy governor of Romania’s National Bank (BNR), G4media.ro reported.

The DNA sent Bogdan Olteanu to court in 2016 on charges of influence peddling. The prosecutors argued that Olteanu, in his position of president of the Chamber of Deputies, asked and accepted EUR 1 million and political support from controversial businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vantu in exchange for having a person recommended by Vantu (Liviu Mihaiu) appointed as governor of the Danube Delta natural reservation, in 2008.

Prosecutors also asked for the confiscation of EUR 1 mln from Olteanu.

According to the DNA prosecutors, the money was transferred from an account in Cyprus to the Bulgarian account of a company registered in the USA and then withdrawn in cash in three consecutive days.

The money was later sent to Olteanu’s office at the PNL headquarters, at Vantu’s request. Vantu also helped Olteanu with his electoral campaign in 2008, when he ran for a seat in the Parliament.

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