Romania’s Prosecutor General calls for criminal inquiry on Agriculture minister Remes
Romania’s Prosecutor General Laura Codruta Kovesi submitted a request to the Presidency on Monday calling for its approval for a criminal inquiry against Agriculture minister Decebal Traian Remes under charges of traffic of influence.
According to Romanian news agency NewsIn the documents included in the case show the minister should have fixed three tenders in favor of a businessman who allegedly bribed him through ex-Agriculture minister Ioan Avram Muresan.
The file is based on statements made by businessman Gheorghe Ciorba and two other witnesses, as well as on several phone calls tapped under authorization.
Remes and Muresan were members of the same rightist government in the late nineties. Remes now serves as Agriculture minister on behalf of the governing National Liberal Party (PNL).
Documents compiled by the prosecutors claim Remes was to help businessman Ciorba win three tenders. In exchange, Remes was to receive 15,000 euro and a large amount of traditional Romanian spirit drinks valued at some 1,500 RON. The “payment” was supposed to be intermediated by Muresan, who on Saturday received an interdiction to leave the country pending inquiry.