The Minister of Justice has received a request to pardon Romanian football boss Gigi Becali, and is currently deciding whether to forward it with a negative or a positive label to the President Traian Basescu, according to Prime-Minister Victor Ponta.

“There is a request sent to the Ministry of Justice, the Minister has informed me about it and he will make a decision. (…) If I was the Minister of Justice, I would propose this to the President, but I am not, this decision belongs to the Minister,” said Ponta when asked during a TV show at local Antena 3 if he agrees with pardoning jailed businessman Gigi Becali.

He added that the Minister of Justice is the one who can decide to forward such a request to the President, with positive or negative label, and the President is the one who can pardon the prisoner.

Becali, owner of Steaua Bucuresti football club, is currently serving a three and a half year jail sentence for corruption in a land exchange deal, kidnapping and football match fixing via bribery. He was sentenced to jail in May 2013.

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