Nagy Peter Tamas, former Secretary of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, and Virgil Găman, the institution’s Secretary General, were arrested Thursday evening, January 8, by anticorruption prosecutors, reports local Mediafax. They are investigated in a EUR 40,000 bribe case which involves the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture.

According to the National Anticorruption Directorate DNA, the two allegedly received almost RON 177,000 (some EUR 39,000) via several companies.Nagy and Găman are accused of bribery, document forgery and money laundering.

Claudiu Vasilescu and Haller Zoltan-Jozsef, administrators of the companies via which Nagy and Găman received the bribes, were also detained in this case.

A Romanian member of the European Parliament,Constantin Rebega, is also prosecuted in this case, for allegedly receiving EUR 5,100 of the bribes.

The DNA carried out searches at the Ministry of Agriculture as well as in other locations in Bucharest and Mures, Brasov and Prahova County.

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