Romanian Businessman, Wife Of Ex-Agriculture Min Heard In Graft File

Romanian businessman Gheorghe Ciorba, probed alongside former agriculture ministers Ioan Avram Mureaan and Decebal Traian Remes for influence peddling and corruption, was heard on Wednesday by anticorruption prosecutors, together with Remes’ wife.

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People close to the investigation said Ciorba, his concubine, their son and the wife of Decebal Remes were asked to go to the National Anticorruption Department in Oradea, at 9:00 local time.

Remes’s lawyer, Gheorghita Mateut, said that Remes’ wife was heard as witness in the case. She has allegedly received part of the bribe Ciorba allegedly gave Remes so that the latter might fix a public auction to favor Ciorba.

However, the head prosecutor of the Oradea Territorial Service of the DNA said neither Ciorba nor Remes’ wife were heard by prosecutors.

On October 8, 2007, Romania’s prosecutor general Laura Codruta Kovesi urged president Traian Basescu to consent to the start of a criminal probe against Remes for influence peddling, as stipulated in article 257 of the Criminal Code, in file no.157/P/2007 at the DNA .

Remes resigned from the position of agriculture minister after the public television aired footage showing him receiving an envelope from Muresan, which allegedly contained bribe.

The footage shows a meeting between Remes and Muresan, acting as intermediary for Ciorba, who had allegedly requested a favor in a public auction. Muresan is shown handing Remes an envelope which supposedly contained EUR15,000. The television also provided audio recordings of conversations regarding public auctions.

Ciorba’s company Construct Europromt won in September 2007 the auction organized by the Valcea Department for Agriculture and Rural Development (DADR).

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