The Bucharest Court sentenced Ioan Niculae, once considered Romania’s richest, to 3 years and six months of jail time for corruption. The sentence is not final, local Hotnews.ro reported.

Niculae was tried for buying influence, instigation to tax evasion and instigation to money laundering, in a case related to his flagship company, agri-business group Interagro.

Nicoleta Mariana Toncea, Ioan Niculae’s wife and former president of Interagro group, was sentenced to 3 years in jail for complicity to tax evasion and money laundering while Viorel Barac, the general manager of Interagro, got 3 years and 6 months in jail for tax evasion and money laundering.

All three of them as well as four companies involved in the illegal activities, will also have to pay RON 3.54 million (EUR 760,000) each as compensations to the state budget. The court maintained the decision to freeze RON 24.8 million (EUR 5.32 million) worth of assets for recovering the damage.

Meanwhile, the former president of Braila County Council, Gheorghe Bunea Stancu, was acquitted of influence peddling charges in the same case.

editor@romania-insider.com