A fringe think tank involved in “political investigations” made a series of revelations this weekend that it claims show the involvement of President Traian Basescu’s brother in an energy trading scheme with a company which the head of state has accused of abuses.

Romanian newspapers last week revealed that Traian Basescu’s brother, Mircea Basescu, who runs a food processing company, has been running a contract with Energy Holding, a company that the President has linked to a series of abuses in the Romanian energy sector over the past decade. Mircea Basescu admitted the existence of the contract.

But now, the Group of Political Investigations - GIP made public a couple of photos depicting Mircea Basescu in the company of Energy Holding manager Bogdan Buzoianu and claimed the two have been maintaining a very close relationship.

This link, claimed the GIP, was much stronger than Mircea Basescu admitted, as his company Plusfood Constanta SRL was allegedly involved in a scheme where it bought cheap energy from Energy Holding and resold it at higher prices.

Mircea Basescu replied that his company only sold food products and threatened GIP head Mugur Ciuvica with court action unless he brought proof within 24 hours that Plusfood was reselling Energy Holding energy.