Romanian Senate Committee Requests Complete List Of State-Funded Companies

The Economic Committee has asked for a complete list of companies which received state funding or won public bids from January 1, 2009, onward.

Given the large quantity of information, Government has ten days to present its findings. The Finance Ministry keeps a database which indicates the sums granted by the State and the beneficiaries' names.

The committee will compile a report detailing each member's opinion by the end of the current parliamentary session.

The report will include the names of State-funded companies and the structure of their administrative boards. It will be compared with the public list of electoral campaign party financers. Vosganian added that the Government is required by law to provide the list.

Vosganian, a former finance minister, explained that the request is motivated by the current economic situation and the cutbacks on public policy financing, which encourage the emergence of cronyism.

According to the liberal senator, the 2009 European Parliament and presidential campaigns benefitted from unprecedented financial backing.

Vosganian also asked that the Court of Accounts investigate why construction costs for a covered skating rink in the central Romanian city of Brasov tripled.

In early April, Romanian opposition liberal leader Crin Antonescu said that his party would set up a special committee to investigate how campaign financers of the Democratic Liberal Party were granted contracts for public works.

Romania's ruling Democrat Liberal Party received RON41 million in donations, membership dues and other revenue sources during the 2009 electoral campaigns.

According to lists published in the Official Journal, some of the ruling party's main financers in 2009 included Russian-based oil giant Lukoil, its Romanian branch and a construction company based in the eastern Romanian city of Iasi.

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