Former Ministers Sentenced to Prison

Former Agriculture Ministers Decebal Traian Remeş and Ioan Avram Mureşan received a non-suspended sentence of three years in prison following the case known as “Caltaboşul”(“The Sausage”).

The decision is not definitive; an appeal can be filed with the five judge panel of the Supreme Instance Court.

Decebal Traian Remeş was tried for trade in influence while Ioan Avram Mureşan was tried as accessory to influence purchasing in a continuous form.

According to NAD (National Anticorruption Directorate), in September 2007 former minister Ioan Mureşan allegedly facilitated the conveyance of a promise as well as of certain products valued at RON 1500 and of the sum of EURO 15,000 from the businessman Gheorghe Ciorbă to the Minister of Agriculture in office at the time, Decebal Traian Remeş.

According to the prosecutors, the latter was going to favor the businessman’s companies at the public auctions organized by institutions subordinate to the ministry.

According to Agerpres, during the months of February and March 2008 the two former ministers underwent several rounds of hearings at the NAD.

On March 10th 2008 it was ordered that Decebal Traian Remeş’s building in the city of Baia Mare should be placed under sequestration in view of confiscating the sums of money which constituted the object of the crime of trade in influence.

Translated by: Roxana-Andreea Dragu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University