Minister in Romania's former technocrat Govt. under criminal investigation

President Klaus Iohannis cleared the prosecutors' request for criminal investigation against Victor Grigorescu, a former minister of energy in the cabinet of technocrats headed by prime minister Dacian Ciolos - currently co-president of the reformist party USR PLUS and MEP.

Grigorescu reportedly declared with delay and inconsistently significant revenues - RON 800,000 (over EUR 160,000) for roughly one year - derived from the property rights over a website with no particular economic value. The company that paid minister Grigorescu the money was Impact Sales Co in the British Turks & Caicos Islands, according to some of the wealth statements filed by the minister.

According to Bursa.ro, Victor Grigorescu explained that "the platform was a functional and attractive start-up for which I received several offers at the time. I accepted an offer to cede the use of this platform for one year for the amount of RON 792,000, taxable, which can be found in my wealth declaration, with the option that at the end of the contract, I can develop a large project. Another transaction has not taken place. The online domain on which the platform operated is registered in my name, and the transaction was also made in my name, which is why it appears as such in the wealth declarations."

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)