Former Romanian transport minister released from prison

Former Romanian MP and transport minister Relu Fenechiu was released conditionally from prison on Monday, August 7. The Vaslui Court’s decision to grant early release to Fenechiu is final, reports local Agerpres. He spent three years and a half in prison, which means that he served more than half of the five years and six months sentence. In January 2014, Relu Fenechiu got a prison sentence of five years in a case nicknamed “The transformer.” The case involved the sale of old transformers and switches via Fenechiu’s companies to the Electricity Maintenance Subsidiary Moldova, but at high prices. He then received a second conviction in the fall of 2016, after admitting to being guilty in a case related to software purchases made by the Justice Ministry and a state-owned pharmaceutical company. The court merged the two sentences, and thus he was supposed to stay five years and six months behind bars. Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com