15:02
The court also ordered Meir to pay material damages to eight of the plaintiffs. He is forbidden from holding public office during his incarceration, as well as four years after his sentence.
The ruling may be challenged before the Bucharest Court of Appeals.
Meir, a former lawmaker and presidential hopeful last year, has been in custody since October 2009, having been indicted for forgery, possession and circulation of forged currency. He was sentenced in early March to four years in prison for deception and tax evasion in another case, for which he was indicted in 2006.
In June, Meir and his son Or Meir were indicted in yet another case, on charges of influence peddling and accessory to influence peddling, respectively.