Region: Romania

The European Commission is considering whether to intervene in a €2 billion asset seizure dispute between Russian oil company Lukoil and Romanian prosecutors.

16 July 2015

Romania’s prime minister, Victor Ponta, was charged on 13 July with money laundering, tax evasion and fraud dating back to when he was a lawyer in 2012.

14 July 2015

According to reports, Romanian prosecutors seized US$2.2 billion from Russian petroleum company Lukoil on 8 July, following a money-laundering and tax evasion investigation that started in 2014.

13 July 2015

Mihail Vlasov, the former chairman of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was sentenced to five years in prison on 18 June for taking US$228,000 in bribes from a businessman to help the man in a litigation suit.

23 June 2015

Thomas Firestone, resident legal advisor to the US embassy in Moscow between 2006 and 2012, says the issue of anti-corruption enforcement in Eastern Europe has become increasingly important to the international community since the relations between Russia and the West soured last year.

17 March 2015

Romanian prosecutors are investigating allegations that the country’s finance minister took a bribe from a company bidding for a government contract.

16 March 2015

Prosecutors in Munich have charged a former European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) director in connection with allegations of foreign bribery, according to Der Spiegel. The German magazine reported that a case file shows that Stefan Zoller has been indicted over alleged bribery to secure two border security contracts in Romania and Saudi Arabia.

11 December 2014

Munich prosecutors have confirmed they are investigating the defence arm of aerospace company Airbus for alleged tax evasion and foreign bribery. The company’s premises and the homes of several employees were reportedly raided in October over alleged bribery connected to border security contracts in Romania and Saudi Arabia.

04 December 2014

Russian oil company Lukoil has halted production at its Petrotel refinery in Romania following a tax evasion and money laundering investigation, according to Reuters. According to the news agency, Lukoil issued a statement from the Russian embassy in Bucharest to reporters in Moscow on 6 October to announce the suspension of production after local authorities confiscated the company’s raw materials and crude oil as part of the investigation.

07 October 2014

Romanian prosecutors and police searched the offices of five companies owned by Russian oil firm Lukoil on 2 October as part of a €230 million money laundering and tax evasion investigation. According to reports, the prosecuting office of the Ploiesti Court of Appeals raided buildings belonging to a number of Lukoil's Romanian subsidiaries, including Lukoil Lubricants East Europe, Lukoil Energy & Gas Romania, Agentia Lukom-A-Romania and TP Log Services.

03 October 2014