What the newspapers say: May 8, 2008

The football championship ends while a huge scandal begins, crowned by the arrest of 5 persons by the Anti-Graft prosecutors, all five accused of attempting to bribe a team. Also about bribe: several prosecutors were sent to trial, after their tapped phone conversations proved that they were involved in offering positions in the Justice system in exchange for cash and goods. In business, everything is the same: Romanians are paid increasingly well, but employers still can not find enough qualified people to employ.

Five of the business colleagues of controversial Gigi Becali – politician, real estate mogul, football financer – were arrested after the U Cluj – CFR Cluj football game last night, in which CFR Cluj won the championship. The five collaborators carried 1.7 million euro, money the Anti-Graft prosecutors say that were destined to U Cluj players, in case they won the game, so that Steaua (Becali’s team) would become the champion, all newspapers inform.

In the aftermath of the event, Becali declared that the money was for acquiring some land near Cluj. The businessman also accused the Anti-Graft prosecution office of being controlled by Hungarians, since the owner of CFR Cluj is a Hungarian minority representative.

In a similar chain of events, Evenimentul Zilei managed to obtain the transcript of some phone conversations that prove the involvement of six prosecutors in a bribe circuit in Justice. The prosecutors are currently accused of „arranging” prosecutor seats for their friends or for those who paid bribes up to „15,000 euro and a trunk full of whisky”.

From bribe to theft: Bancpost blocked tens of thousands of debt cards, after suspect transactions took place in Romania, Bulgaria and several other South-East Europe countries. The bank claims that some information leaked from its computers and estimates a fraud between 2 and 3 hundred thousand euro, Gandul and Evenimentul Zilei inform.

In business: the average income in Romania grows steadily, with a 5.1% growth noted only between February and March. The most important income growth came into the banking system, there the average net income was close to 1,000 euro per month, Gandul reads.

Still, Romanians are not rushing to get jobs. According to a recent study, 73% of the employers say they have difficulties in finding qualified personnel, a percentage that sends Romania straight to the top-problem countries worldwide. Romania is followed in the top by Japan, with 63% of the employers claiming that they have the same problem, and Australia, with 52%, Evenimentul Zilei informs.

As a first in Romania: the first sentence for electronic piracy came yesterday – 5 years and 6 months in jail for owning, distributing and offering piracy products, Cotidianul reads.