Former ministers sentenced in strategic privatisation case

A former Economy minister and a former Communications minister, who served in the Romanian Government in mid-2000’s, received prison sentences in a major case related to strategic privatizations at the time on Tuesday. Romania’s High Court sentenced ex-Economy minister Codrut Seres to 4 years and 8 months, whil ex-Communications minister Zsolt Nagy was sentenced to 4 years. The ruling is final.

Several Romanian and foreign citizens, including consultants and state officials, also received prison sentences in the case.

Seres and Nagy have been accused of using their positions in the government to favor certain competitors in several major privatization processes in 2005-2006, as they and others have set up an international crime group which included Romanian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Czech and English-Romanian citizens. Investigators have said their actions should be considered treason.