Ex-PM Nastase says not guilty in corruption case

Former Romanian PM Adrian Nastase was summoned to the National Anti-Corruption Department (DNA) on Monday to learn about the criminal case opened against him on suspicion of acts of corruption related to the construction and procurement of a property in Bucharest.

Nastase told journalists prior to his meeting with DNA prosecutors that the result in the so-called Zambaccian case, bearing the name of the street where the property is situated, was a predictible one.

“Sending me to court is the result of an absurd game”, Nastase said, speaking of a “witch hunt” based on abusive allegations against him. He said he was attacked in court because he was “a strong adversary of the current political power”.

Nastase is charged with bribe-taking in the Zambaccian case. His wife, Dana Nastase, is also charged with complicity to bribe-taking. Nastase allegedly received from a former administrative official a series of construction materials valued at some 400,000 euro for the maintenance of his house on Zambaccian Street in Bucharest.