Romanian newspapers on Thursday take advantage of an apparent lack of events on the tense political stage in the country to turn their eyes elsewhere and dig into other stories of interest, such as the deals concluded by controversial businessmen with the state-dominated energy sector.

One newspaper interviews Romania’s very young prosecutor general, while another counts the money of Romania’s booming media moguls. In politics, only the Presidency spokeswoman seems to move things - and herself from office.

Evenimentul Zilei publishes a blasting article about the energy deals of firms controlled by Dan Voiculescu, the leader of the Conservative Party, a very small political group that seems to make and break anything on the political stage these days.

According to the paper, one of Voiculescu’s companies, Grivco, has earned millions of euro from cheap energy deals as an intermediary from the Romanian state back to the Romanian state.

According to documents obtained by Evenimentul Zilei, Grivco bought energy from the state-controlled Rovinari complex and sold it back to the state at huge profits both under the previous government and under the current political leadership - to which it belonged until late last year.

Dan Voiculescu is thus included in the group of what the media calls “the wise guys”, businessmen who’ve been earning big profits from contracts with the state.

Cotidianul reports that one provider of very cheap energy, Hidroelectrica SA, has six long-term clients that have been buying cheap energy just to resell it to the state at higher prices. According to the paper, the losses from contracts with these six clients account for 76 million US dollars.

Still in the energy sector, Evenimentul Zilei identifies some of the “wise guys” in a major scheme by which Russia is believed to have been trying to get control over a hub that links the Romanian energy system with that of the EU.

The story is about the CET Mintia-Deva energy plant where Moscow has been pressing to get involved into updating the technology through a key contract ever since Romanian President Traian Basescu first visited Moscow in 2005.

Elsewhere in the papers, Romania libera interviews Romania’s prosecutor general Laura Codruta Kovesi, 34, Romania’s youngest ever prosecutor general.

The interview looks into the engines of Romania’s troubled Justice, where Kovesi believes the needed reform does not necessarily need one individual or another -a reference to Justice minister Monica Macovei, who is seen as the artisan of the Justice reform.

And Cotidianul is more interested in the profits of Romania’s booming media market, which is dominated by a small number of groups.

According to the paper, The turnover of the largest such group on the Romanian market, CME of Pro TV fame, stands at 111 million euro for TV and radio alone, while the profits of the Intact group - run by Dan Voiculescu’s family - stands at about 61 million euro from television activities alone.

The dominant force in the newspaper market, Ringier, announced a 2006 turnover of 62 million euro yesterday.

On the political front, Adevarul announces that the battle between President Basescu and PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu moves at the Supreme Defense Council today, where decisions are expected on disputed national security laws and Tariceanu’s plans for a troops withdrawal from Iraq.

Jurnalul National is one among many newspapers that have learned from confidential sources that President Basescu’s spokeswoman and close advisor Adriana Saftoiu has resigned, after what the paper calls “weeks of cooled relations” with the head of state.

Cotidianul blames the resignation on tensions between Saftoiu and a former aide of Basescu’s, Elena Udrea, who’s retained her influence with the Presidency despite a noisy resignation a while ago.