The Ploiesti Court has sentenced Romanian businessman Gruia Stoica to four years in prison for influence buying.

Lawyer Doru Bostina got three years in jail for influence peddling in the same case.

Last year in January, the anticorruption prosecutors arrested Stoica, the owner of private railway freight operator Grup Feroviar Roman (GFR), for having given EUR 3 million to Doru Bostina. He wanted to find out from Bostina the price its competitor CFR Marfa has asked for coal transportation in an auction organized by the energy company Complexul Energetic Oltenia (CEO). GFR was one of the bidders.

The value of the contract would have amounted to some EUR 106 million.

editor@romania-insider.com