The former head of the intelligence department of the Interior Ministry, Virgil Ardelean, is grilled by a Senate commission on Wednesday to explain why he resigned last week, shortly after it was revealed that a Romanian businessman of Syrian descent, charged with terrorism, has vanished.

The hearings come as prosecutors in Bucharest admitted on Tuesday that businessman Omar Hayssam has fled the country.

Ardelean said during hearings today that he had sent two warnings in May and June respectively that Hayssam was planning to leave the country. And he said that Interior minister Vasile Blaga was the one who suggested him to resign.

The resignation of Ardelean and two other top intelligence chiefs was announced by the Romanian Presidency last week.