Justice Minister Tudor Chiuariu addressed an open letter to president Traian Basescu on Thursday, claiming he was unfairly called “mobster” and that he was never the “jurist of Ralu Fenechiu” (a controversial Liberal leader from the same geographical region as Chiuariu).

My mother will ask me who is the “Fenechiu mobster”, Chiuariu wrote in the open letter, after the president called him in a TV intervention “a young mobster with an attitude”.

“Esteemed former presidential candidate of the Justice & Truth Alliance, I want to remind you that we were together in the 2004 electoral campaign.

Traian Basescu and Tudor Chiuariu, along with many others: Calin Popescu-Tariceanu (prime minister, Liberal), Vasile Blaga (former Interior Minister, Democrat), Varujan Vosganian (Economy Minister, Liberal), Adriean Videanu (Bucharest mayor, Democrat)”.

“My mother will ask me why I’m a mobster. I know I’m not. You, Mr. President, you know I’m not. And you still made this statement, without any prove or argument.

My Mother will ask me who this Fenechiu mobster is. And I don’t know how to answer, except to tell her he is one of the men who helped you become president”, Chiuariu writes in his letter.

“I was never Fenechiu’s jurist, but I was your lawyer in the 2004 campaign”, Chiuariu adds. In the post scriptum, he even mentions: “I don’t understand why you want the Justice Minister to be your humble servant or your nemesis. I thought he could be simply the Justice Minister”.