Premier Victor Ponta urged Friday, at the beginning of the cabinet meeting, his ministers not to hesitate to remove from the institutions which they coordinate any person suspected of corruption and to provide prosecutors and the media with all necessary information. “The old habits are hard to remove and I think it is very good that any act of corruption is sanctioned with maximum toughness,” Ponta said, quoted by Mediafax. The prime minister appreciated the activity of prosecutors with regard to fighting corruption, in reference to the cases that appeared these days at the Albita customs, the Pantelimon police and Hidroelectrica. According to HotNews.ro, the bribe row at Hidroelectrica brought to the spotlight the energy trader Energon Power&Gas. The company controlled by Rares Criste entered the market of bilateral contracts on OPCOM ever since October 9, when Remus Vulpescu, the denunciator in the bribe case at Hidroelectrica, was approached by Eugen Bradean, trading manager with Hidroelectrica, to convince him to rule in favour of the company in exchange or EUR 1.4 M. According to phone conversations taped by anticorruption prosecutors, Bradean believed that the minister of Energy, Constantin Nita (PSD) was among those who would have received the bribe. On the other hand, the chief of the Organised Crime Combating Brigade (BCCO) Alba, Traian Berbeceanu, was remanded for 29 days under the accusation of having supported a group suspect of tax evasion with oil products.
