Another lawsuit against former Tourism Minister Elena Udrea – the Hidroelectrica file

The court case in the Hidroelectrica file, in which former Tourism Minister Elena Udrea and journalist Dan Andronic (photo 2) are indicted by the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) prosecutors for influence peddling and money laundering, respectively false testimony, can start.

This is the decision of a judge with the Bucharest Court of Appeals. The magistrate has rejected on Monday the exceptions raised by Udrea and Andronic. He found the lawfulness of the administration of evidence, the execution of criminal prosecution acts and the indictment to the court in this file, ziare.com reports.

The Bucharest Court of Appeals has also decided to lay seizure upon all the movable and immovable assets, present and in the future, belonging to Elena Udrea, up to the equivalent of RON 4,700,000 for the purpose of confiscation. The decision may be appealed.

The prosecutors say that, during 2011, Elena Udrea accepted the promise made by a businessman (Bogdan Buzaianu – our note), through intermediaries, to receive the amount of USD 5 million to intervene upon the decision-makers from The Ministry of Economy and SC Hidroelectrica SA, in order to maintain, in the already negotiated conditions (price and amount of energy supplied) the contracts that the businessman had concluded with Hidroelectrica.

From the promised amount, Elena Udrea received in November 2011, through intermediaries, USD 3,800,000, but also a claim of EUR 900,000. The claim represented an amount that a company belonging to the businessman had borrowed from a third party and which was guaranteed by the shares of a company holding two publications, the DNA prosecutors say.

In order to conceal she was the real beneficiary of the EUR 900,000 claim, which would also have given her the power to influence the activity of the company in the media (Evenimentul zilei newspaper), Elena Udrea took over the claim from the company controlled by the businessman by interposing another company, belonging to an acquaintance.

Former Tourism Minister, Elena Udrea, currently in Costa Rica, claimed last week she would return to Romania the coming winter.

“I am confident we will return to the country very soon. I would have liked the baby to be born in Romania, to be near the family and friends. It was God’s will, he most certainly has a plan when things like this happen. I hope to home by Christmas, if not, we’ll be staying here a period of time, until we all return in Romania, the entire family,” Elena Udrea has said for a TV station.

Elena Udrea fled Romania only four months before being sentenced in the ‘Bute Gala’ file, she has flown to Costa Rica, a country which does not have an extradition treaty with Romania.

Elena Udrea has given birth, in Costa Rica, on September 20, before the term. Elena Udrea’s first child will be named Eva Maria, as she announced a few weeks ago. Elena Udrea gave birth naturally, around 14:00h, Romania’s time.

Former Minister Elena Udrea was officially placed, in June, on APB (photo 1) for bribe taking and abuse of office by the Romanian Police. A photo of Udrea was posted on the Police website, after the request to the court Tuesday evening for a European Arrest Warrant applicable between EU Member States and a request for international prosecution.

Sentenced to six years in prison in the ‘Bute Gala’ file, former Tourism Minister Elena Udrea is in Costa Rica, where earlier this year she requested political asylum.

The High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ – Supreme Court) sentenced former Tourism Minister Elena Udrea to six years and four months imprisonment in the ‘Bute Gala’ file. Rudel Obreja was sentenced to five years in prison. The rulings are final.