Newspapers today observe how shady interests may make themselves heard in the two most important judiciary cases of the moment – the one against ex-PM, current House speaker Adrian Nastase and another, against businessman Dinu Patriciu.

Meanwhile, President Basescu speaks out about lots of stuff in a rare interview for print media, while the allied parties he led in the 2004 elections are seen as failing to merge in one single political group.

Evenimentul Zilei notes how Judge Maria Tripadus, currently presiding in the complicated case against oil group Rompetrol and its head Dinu Patriciu, may have some explanations to do. That is, because an association run by her sun received funds tu support a film festival last year.

And the money came from the government – where PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu is known to be a friend of Dinu Patriciu.

Adevarul, for its part, focuses on how a group of workers that witnessed the searches at a house in Zambaccian Street in Bucharest, at the core of the graft inquiry against ex-PM Adrian Nastase, are employed by the construction works company of the Golden Blitz group, known for his connections to President Traian Basescu, who used to dine at the Golden Blitz restaurant in the Romanian capital.

And they’re working at a site at the National Anti-Corruption Department offices.

Meanwhile, Cotidianul publishes an interview with President Basescu himself, who "on a relaxed Sunday" goes defensive on several issues.

He says he would not like "a man of mine" to run any of the secret services because it would prove uncomfortable, as he would believe a friend, while now, with others in those positions, help him remain skeptical when talking to them.

He also says he doesn’t care about the current disputes between the Liberals and the Democrats, the two parties of the governing D.A. Alliance, because "I answer the Romanian people… I don’t hold debts to political parties, if I am to obey the Constitution".

After a weekend when the Alliance seemed to abandon merger plans for good, Evenimentul Zilei publishes an poll by public opinion research group INSOMAR for Realitatea TV that shows most Romanians believe a merge between the Liberals and the Democrats is almost impossible.

And for those who believe in it, Democratic leader Emil Boc is seen as the most apt to run the newly formed party, the poll says.

And tabloid Averea eyes a more discreet event of the weekend. That is, a party of "smart guys" well connected to ex-PM Adrian Nastase, believed to run the nation from a shadowy structure of personal political and financial interests.

The group – including businessmen Alexandru Bittner and Adrian "The Boss" Petrache, whose daughter was baptized that day - reunited in a Bucharest restaurant for a feast costing some USD 50,000.