Romanian PM backed in Parliament’s lower house
Romanian Parliament’s lower house on Tuesday rejected a request by the country’s anti-corruption watchdog to lift the immunity of Prime Minister Victor Ponta. Lawmakers voted 231-120 against the request of Romania’s National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) to prosecute Mr Ponta. The prime minister denies any wrongdoing and says he will co-operate with prosecutors. Prosecutors in the capital Bucharest presented charges of forgery, money-laundering and tax evasion against Mr Ponta while Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who defeated the prime minister in the presidential elections last November, has called on Mr Ponta to resign.
Simona-Mirela Miculescu appointed UN Representative in Serbia
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Simona-Mirela Miculescu as his UN Representative in Serbia and head of the UN Office in the capital Belgrade, according to an announcement issued on the UN spokesperson’s Twitter account. The Romanian diplomat was currently serving as Romania’s Permanent Representative to the UN since 2008. During her 24-year career, Ms Miculescu served as spokesperson of Romania’s Foreign Ministry and senior advisor to the Minister, head of MAE Press Office and Press Secretary of the Romanian Embassy in Washington D.C. Ms Miculescu holds a PhD in Literature and she has been an international public relations scholar with two Romanian universities.
Final rulings in the RAFO-Carom file
An Appeal Court in Bucharest ended a case that began in 2006. The court handed long prison sentences to two Romanian businessmen for their involvement in defrauding the RAFO-Carom state company of 44 million euros. Marian Iancu is expected to serve a 14-year prison sentence while his accomplice, Ovidiu Tender, was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months for money laundring and fraud. Mr. Iancu is already in prison for another 12-year sentence received in a previous case while Mr. Tender was detained in a prison in the Romanian western town of Timişoara late on Monday.
Earthquake reported in Romania’s Vrancea region
A shallow magnitude 3.9 earthquake of a 138 km. depth was reported in Romania’s eastern county of Vrancea on Tuesday morning, according to the country’s National Institute of Earth Physics. The qauke was felt quite intensely in such cities as Covasna, Vălenii de Munte, Târgu Secuiesc, Săcele and Râmnicu Sărat (central and eastern Romania). The country’s most powerful eathquake this year occured on March 29 in the eastern Romanian county of Buzău with a magnitude of 4.9 on Richter scale.
RADOR – Alexandru Danga
