Romania’s former finance minister Sebastian Vladescu is being investigated for two bribery charges in a railway revamping contract. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis approved the investigation on Tuesday, April 24, after the Romanian Anticorruption Direction DNA requested it last week.

Meanwhile, Austrian authorities searched the headquarters of a construction company called Swietelsky in Linz, in a white crime investigation, according to foreign media, cited by local Mediafax. Austrian company employees are believed to have acted illegally during a public tender project in Romania.

The association between Swietelsky, Wiebe and Tanaka won the project to revamp the Bucharest – Constanta railway, which is at the core of the bribery case involving the former Romanian Finance Minister. The company, which runs several divisions in Romania, is believed to have bribed Romanian officials, including the minister, to land the public contract.

The total damages in this case are estimated at EUR 20 million, according to DNA. Vladescu himself is believed to have received a EUR 1 million bribe.

editor@romania-insider.com