Romanian Liviu Luca, the head of the employees union within oil and gas company Petrom and local media investor Sorin Ovidiu Vantu (in picture) were detained for 24 hours on Monday, on money laundry accusations.

Sorin Ovidiu Vantu used to be the main shareholder in Realitatea Media, a TV station that he sold earlier this year to real estate investor Elan Swartzenberg. Liviu Luca also owns shares in Realitatea.

The accusations which led to the recent arrest were based on alleged dilapidation of funds from Petrom Service SA and money laundry, in amount of around EUR 83 million. Businessmen Ovidiu Turcan and the former director of Petrom Service, Gheorghe Supeala, have also been detained.

The four have allegedly bought overevaluated shares in other companies using Petrom Service's money while fraudulently transferring the money obtained to withhold the real identity of the beneficiary. Amounts of money were transferred to offshore accounts, either to personal accounts, or company accounts. Realitatea Media received around EUR 14.2 million, while SC Imobiliar Network 2002, some EUR 6.7 million and SC GM Invest SA, another EUR 1.3 million.

The prejudices affected 72,000 members of the Employees Union with Petrom Service who were minority shareholders and couldn't cash in dividends, while the value of shares had been diminished.

The controlled bankruptcy of Petrom Service has indirectly caused a loss of EUR 98 million to the state budget, according to prosecutors.

Media investor Sorin Ovidiu Vantu has been recently sent to court in another file, for allegedly blackmailing Sebastian Ghita, at the time manager of Realitatea Media. On those charges, Vantu was detained in April this year again.

That was not the first time Vintu wasarrested. In fall last year, he spent a week in jail. Vintu, together with two others, are investigated for helping Nicolae Popa, who has been convicted to jail in the Gelsor – FNI bankruptcy case, but who fled the country to Indonesia, escaping imprisonement. Popa was extradited to Romania earlier this year.

FNI (Fondul National de Investitii) was a pyramidal (Ponzi) scheme in the late 1990s. The investment fund went bankrupt in 2000, when thousands of people lost their savings deposited in the fund. FNI is a project started by Sorin Ovidiu Vintu, who never got convicted in direct connection to this case.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Agerpres)