Romanian Ex PM Indicted Again In Chinese Goods Purchase Case

Anticorruption prosecutors Wednesday indicted Adrian Nastase, a former prime minister and speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, on charges of receiving bribes and blackmail, his wife, Dana Nastase, on the same charges, and Irina Jianu, former inspector general with the State Constructions Inspectorate, on charges of bribery and money laundering.

Prosecutors have determined that, between 2002-2004, when he was prime minister, Nastase received around EUR630,000 in lei. This money represented the value of goods imported from China, expenses related to these imports, the price of work done on buildings owned by Nastase.

According to the charges, Nastase received money from Irina Jianu in exchange for appointing her state inspector general and granting her full authority over the State Constructions Inspectorate.

Also during his term as prime minister, Nastase and his wife allegedly purchased a series of goods from China. According to investigators, the paperwork for these items was filled in with false data and brought into the country under the guise of imports made by Vertcon, a company based in Bacau County, whose management was pressured by Jianu into accepting the expenses related to this purchase. The goods were then taken over by the true owners and used to outfit their properties in Bucharest and Cornu, Prahova County.

Their import was allegedly facilitated by Ioan Paun, a witness in the case, who in exchange was appointed Romania's general consul to Hong Kong.

The Anticorruption Department goes on to charge Nastase with using his position as Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies (in March 2006) to threaten Paun with divulging certain false claims (such as being an undercover agent for certain bodies), unless Paun withdrew his statements in the case and refused to turn over evidence to investigators.

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