The General Prosecutor’s Office passed a request to a Presidency commission on Tuesday to give its approval for the initiation of a criminal inquiry on the names of former Economy minister Codrut Seres and Communication minister Zsolt Nagy, an Office spokesman announced today.

The two are currently under scrutiny by DIICOT, the main body investigating organized crimes in Romania, over their involvement in a series of controversies related to leaks of classified information regarding the privatization of strategic companies in the country, which is seen as a threat to the national security.

Zsolt Nagy told the Realitatea TV news station today that he was surprised by the request but that he understood the Romanian Justice has to follow its course. He insisted that his ministry has not supervised in any privatization process and did not work with classified documents.

For his part, Codrut Seres has announced his resignation from the Economy Ministry on Monday as the party he belongs to, the Conservatives (PC), decided to withdraw from the governing coalition in a separate political dispute.