Romania’s top court has confirmed that former prime minister Adrian Nastase will serve a two-year jail sentence for corruption, sending a signal that the country is trying to address EU concerns about widespread graft.
The failure to tackle corruption in Romania and neighbouring Bulgaria, the EU’s two newest and poorest members, has led to both being blocked from joining the passport-free Schengen zone.
Mr Nastase becomes the most senior politician there to be jailed since the 1989 fall of communism.
Prosecutors said $2 million was missing from the state budget in 2004 when profits from an event organised by a state construction watchdog were used to finance his presidential campaign. – (Reuters)