Romanian Fraud Convict Ioana Maria Vlas To Be Released On Parole

Court spokeswoman Madalina Graure said the ruling is final.

On September 29, a court in Ploiesti, southern Romania, admitted Vlas’a appeal to the decision of the Targsor Penitentiary’s parole commission to postpone discussions on her latest request for release. The court ruling, however, was appealed by prosecutors.

Under the law, convicts aged over 55 and sentenced to ten or less than ten years in prison may be released on parole if they served one third of the sentence. Vlas meets parole release conditions.

Vlas was convicted for fraud in two different files, one regarding the collapse of the National Investment Fund (for which she received a ten-year sentence) and another concerning the collapse of the National Accumulation Fund (an eight-year sentence). In April, a court ruled to cumulate Vlas’s two sentences and her jail time was reduced to ten years. She was incarcerated at the Targsor Penitentiary in June 2009.