Romanian investor denounces politician, former energy minister

Romanian investor Tiberiu Urdareanu, president of the UTI group, made two denunciations yesterday in front of the supreme court. He said that he had bribed former energy minister Constantin Nita to get a contract. He also testified that former liberal leader Ludovic Orban, a former transport minister between 2007 and 2008, asked him for money to finance his local elections campaign. Urdareanu’s company had contracts with the Bucharest City Hall, and Orban was planning to run for mayor this year. Urdareanu said that Orban asked him for EUR 50,000 and that he recorded their conversation. Orban withdrew from the race for Bucharest mayor a few weeks before the elections after the anticorruption prosecutors called him in for questioning. Tiberiu Urdareanu, who was heard yesterday in the case of influence peddling targeting former Energy Minister Constantin Nita, also said that he offered Nita some EUR 30,000 or EUR 50,000 in an envelope. This took place in a restaurant within the Radisson hotel in 2012. Urdareanu said that he had met Nita in 2011, when the local authorities in Brasov were planning to build an airport. Nita had influence in the local politics, and Urdareanu wanted to get the contract. Next year, in 2012, Nita introduced Urdareanu to the Iasi mayor Gheorghe Nichita. Urdareanu was planning to get a contract for the traffic management in Iasi. In exchange for getting the contract, he had to pay a bribe of 5% to Nita and 10% to the mayor. As he had been late with the bribe payment, he offered EUR 30,000 or EUR 50,000 to the former energy minister in an envelope, to “destress the situation”. editor@romania-insider.com