Two former ministers sentenced to prison for faulty privatizations

The High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ, Romania's Supreme Court) sentenced former ministers Codrut Seres and Zsolt Nagy on Tuesday to prison terms in a case on faulty privatizations.

Photo credit: (c) CRISTIAN NISTOR / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Seres was condemned to 4 years and 8 months in jail, and Nagy to 4 years; the sentences are final.

Other prison terms in the same case were pronounced against Czech citizen Michal Susak ? 4 years; Romanian and English citizen Mircea Calin Flore, a senior manager of CSFB Europe Ltd ? 4.6 years; international consultant Vadim Benyatov ? 4.6 years; Stamen Stanchev ? 5.2 years; Mihai Radu Donciu, a former advisor of the minister of communications ? 5 years; Mihai Dorinel Mucea, a former high official of the State Participation and Industry Privatization Office ? 4 years; Gabor Kerekes ? 4 years; Turkish citizen Mustafa Oral ? 3 years.

The five-judge court sentences were shorter, but it otherwise upheld the rulings of the first instance, pronounced in December 2013.

The prosecutors of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) indicted former economy minister Seres and former communication minister Nagy in March 2009 under charges of adhering to a transnational organized crime group and treason by disclosing secrets.

The accusations were related to the privatization of the Electrica Muntenia Sud Company, to the sale of eight percent of the shares of the Petrom Company, to the privatization and restructuring of the Romaero Company of Bucharest and of the Avioane Company of Craiova (both pertaining to the portfolio of the Ministry of Economu), and to the consultancy for the privatization of the Radicoomunicatii National Company.

Other charges...