Romanian media mogul may get out of jail after 3 years of 10-year sentence

Romanian media mogul Dan Voiculescu, the owner of the Antena 1 and Antena 3 TV stations, may get out of jail after serving less than 3 years of a 10-year prison sentence for corruption. The judges form Bucharest’s District 5 Court admitted Voiculescu’s request for early release. The decision is not final, however, and the anticorruption prosecutors can challenge it within three days. Dan Voiculescu was convicted in 2013 to ten years in prison for corrupting public officials and benefitting from the illegal privatization of the Agricultural Research Institute. He served 1,022 days in jail, namely some 2 years and 10 months, but he also got some 380 days cut from his sentence by writing 11 books and working in prison. He also benefits from a legal provision that says that inmates over 70 can ask for early release after doing a third of their sentence. The anticorruption prosecutors opposed Voiculescu’s request arguing that there were problems with the books he wrote in prison. They also argued that he hasn’t paid the EUR 60 million damages he was held to by the court’s decision. He hasn’t even paid the legal costs of the trial, according to the prosecutors. editor@romania-insider.com