The Romanian National Anticorruption Directorate DNA decided on Monday, March 30, to arrest Sergiu Lucinschi, the son of former Moldavian President Petru Lucinschi, on charges of blackmail and influence peddling.

The DNA prosecutors held Sergiu Lucinschi after searching his home in Romania and questioning him for two hours.

The anticorruption prosecutors also detained a police officer working for the Romanian anti organised crime directorate DIICOT, Constantin Comaneanu, for bribery.

Lucinschi and Comaneanu apparently worked together in a scheme through which they tried to extort money from a local businessman.

The former Moldavian President's son allegedly constrained a Romanian businessman to pay him EUR 4 million. In exchange, Lucinschi promised him to withdraw a criminal charge he had filed with the DIICOT and to stop the prosecutors' investigation on the businessman. On March 17, Lucinschi allegedly received a payment promise from the blackmailed businessman for EUR 2 million.

At the same time, the DIICOT officer Comaneanu went to the same businessman and asked him some EUR 50,000 to help him with the case that Lucinschi had filed on him. The prosecutors caught Comaneanu in the act, on March 30, when he received EUR 5,000 from an intermediary sent by the businessman.

The DNA asked the court to approve 30-day arrest warrants for both Lucinschi and Comaneanu.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com