Twelve persons were arrested following searches performed by officers of the National Anticorruption Center and anticorruption prosecutors at the places of public functionaries and former government officials on November 22, Bogdan Zumbreanu, head of the National Anticorruption Center’s Prosecution Division, and Viorel Morari, chief of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, stated in a press briefing.

According to Viorel Morari, these were arrested in a case concerning the illegal sale of 30 hectares of land that belonged to the National College of Winemaking and Winegrowing. By different schemes, they tried to change the purpose of the land, to rent this and parcel it out into smaller lots so as to later sell them at a higher price.

“A number of 24 searches were carried out. As a result, ten persons of the 12 arrested in this case were brought to the National Anticorruption Center. Two persons were arrested earlier in a criminal case managed by the Center’s North Local Division,” stated Bogdan Zumbreanu.

He specified that those arrested include an ex-secretary of the Supreme Security Council, an employee of the Scientific-Practical Institute, an expert-assessor of real estate, a lawyer, an ex-employee of the Ministry of the Interior, a division head of the Ministry of Agriculture and a former deputy minister of agriculture. “The other persons are entrepreneurs who benefitted from this fraud,” said Bogdan Zumbreanu.

“Public figures were involved in schemes to dispossess the National College of Winemaking and Winegrowing of land. Five persons were charged during the investigation, including employees of the College. The investigation was completed, but one more illegal group was identified meanwhile. This aimed to illegally sell 30 hectares owned by the same College. An act of active corruption is also investigated in connection with the obtaining of financing from the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture. The assistance was estimated at 4.5 million lei. €30,000 bribe was to be paid in this this case,” stated Viorel Morari.

The 12 persons will be held on remand for 72 hours initially. They face up to ten years in jail and fines of hundreds of thousands of lei.