Extensive real estate properties and huge amounts of money - that’s how most Romanian dignitaries and politicians boosted their wealth in 2006 as they became shareholders to various firms or received donations or inherited fortunes, their wealth statements published this week show.

PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu managed to maintain his position as one of the country’s richest people, his updated wealth statement shows. It documents that the prime minister cared for his wealth with shares in various profit-making companies in the banking, car dealing, leasing, wine making and financial investments industries.

Tariceanu’s stake portfolio rose by 616m970 RON by December 30, 2006, with more than a third (260,000 RON) resulting from Automotive Trade Services, Romania’s main Citroen importer.

For his part, deputy PM Marko Bela reported an agricultural field and an apartment in the city of Cluj last year, while Economy minister Varujan Vosganian tripled his bank accounts to about 100,000 euro, became the majority shareholder in the Euroeconomic company and added 48,000 euro from the sale of a parcel of land among others.

And Transport minister Radu Berceanu boasts no less than five apartments and houses as well as several bank accounts amounting nearing 1 million euro after he received 800,000 euro from the sale of a 1.34 mln euro parcel in Bucharest which he sold two years before.