Romania's National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) has asked the General Prosecutor to notify president Klaus Iohannis for approving the criminal investigation of Costel Alexe, former Liberal (PNL) minister of environment and current head of the Iasi County Council.

Alexe's name does not explicitly appear in DNA's official press release, but sources familiar with the investigation told G4Media.ro that the former minister was under investigation.

The DNA prosecutors accuse Alexe, one of the most influential PNL leaders, of having directly asked the manager of a local steel plant to provide sheet metal in exchange for allocating greenhouse gas emission certificates to the plant.

The products requested by Alexe - 22 tons of tinned metal sheets (worth about EUR 20,000), were allegedly sent on April 23, 2020 and July 7, 2020 to the office of a company managed by one of the former minister's relatives, according to the DNA prosecutors.

(Photo: Vlad Ispas/ Dreamstime)

andrei@romania-insider.com