Alina Bica, the former chief prosecutor of Romania’s Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), was detained in Italy on Friday, July 10, the Romanian Police announced, according to local Digi24. 

Alica Bica has been on the Romanian Police’s “wanted persons” list since late-November 2019 when she received a final four-year jail sentence for having favored local businessman Ovidiu Tender.

 According to the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), in 2013, Ovidiu Tender asked Bica for support in getting only a suspended sentence in a fraud case related to the privatization of the Rafo refinery. In exchange for material benefits, Bica instructed her subordinates from DIICOT to ask in court for a suspended sentence for Tender, according to DNA prosecutors.

Romanian businessman Ioan Bene, who was sentenced to 6 years and two months in prison for forgery, bribery, and tax evasion, was also detained in Italy. Both Bica and Bene are to be brought back to Romania to serve their sentences.

newsroom@romania-insider.com

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