The
\nformer MP and PSD leader Viorel Hrebenciuc and the former head of Romania’s
\nNational Audio-Visual Council (CNA), Laura Georgescu, have been apprehended by
\nthe police. The two got prison sentences for having given a licence to Giga TV,
\na television channel belonging to Gheorghe Stefan, shortly after the station
\nhad its licence removed. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Viorel Hrebenciuc
\ngot a three-year prison sentence while Laura Georgescu is going to stay behind
\nbars 4 years and 4 months. The station’s owner, the Liberal mayor of Piatra
\nNeamt in northern Romania, Gheorghe Stefan got a prison sentence of 4 years and
\n6 months in the same file. Stefan had been given a first sentence by a court in
\nBucharest but judges ruled that the former sentence was too short for the offenses
\ncommitted.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Narcisa
\nIorga, another former CNA member, has got a three-year suspended sentence but
\nhas to carry out up to 120 days of unpaid work. She was initially convicted to
\nserving a three-years in prison. The National Anti-Corruption Directorate
\nmanaged to bring these offenders to court in July 2015. Laura Georgescu was
\nbeing investigated for abuse of office and incitement to forgery while
\nHrebenciuc and Stefan on influence peddling.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According
\nto the DNA, in September 2013, the CNA decided to remove the licence for Giga
\nTV, a television Channel owned by Gheorghe Stefan at that time. According to
\nprosecutors, Iorga would later advise Stefan to use his connections in the
\npolitical area to influence the voting the other CNA members were supposed to
\ncast over the decision challenged by the aforementioned TV channel. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According
\nto DNA prosecutors, Hrebenciuc used his influence and got directly involved so
\nthat the institution headed by Laura Georgescu at that time may reconsider its
\ndecision. As a result of all these pressures, the CNA, an institution in charge
\nof Romania’s audio and visual operators, cancelled its first decision allowing
\nthe functioning of the Giga TV channel. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We
\nrecall that Hrebenciuc and his son Andrei in July were convicted in a file on
\nthe illegal restitution of forests but the court ruling in this case is not
\ndefinitive. Hrebenciuc was also placed under investigation for embezzlement in
\na file concerning the funding of the 2009 election campaign for the Social
\nDemocratic Party but he was acquitted in 2017. He used to be one of the most
\ninfluential Social-Democrats since the foundation of this party until his
\nwithdrawal from politics. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
He got
\nfive MP mandates until 2016 and served as the vice-president of the party from
\n1992 until 2004. He was also the party’s chief-negotiator with the rest of the
\npolitical groups in Romania. A businessman and former football club owner
\nGheorghe Stefan is also a notorious figure on Romania’s political stage. Stefan
\nremarked himself through the consistent support provided to the country’s
\nformer president Traian Basescu. Stefan was also convicted for various offenses
\nin the past. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Social Democrat leader Viorel Hrebenciuc, the former Liberal mayor of Piatra Neam\u021b, Gheorghe \u015etefan, and Laura Corina Georgescu, the former head of the National Audio-Visual Council, have received prison sentences<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":82962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[40353,30064,40355,40357,40354,40356],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-89850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-cna","tag-dna","tag-georgescu","tag-gheorghe","tag-hrebenciuc","tag-iorga"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n