Former Transport minister Miron Mitrea was called Thursday to testify in the Rompetrol case about an ordinance dating from 2003, while he was in office, that turned some debts held by a Rompetrol subsidiary into shares. Mitrea said he was not very familiar with the ordinance because he had not signed it.

However, the former minister’s name lies on the document, as he signed the ordinance 89/2003 while replacing the speaker of the House of Deputies.

The ordinance signed September 30, 2003, established the transformation of some $ 600 mln debts the Rompetrol-owned Petromidia refinery helt to the state, including interests and penalties, into shares.

Currently general secretary of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Miron Mitrea went to the High Court of Justice as a witness in the case.

In the same case, former PM Adrian Nasase may face a grilling as this event unfolded under his govt. Another ex minister, Finance minister Mihai Tanasescu witnessed in the case, saying that the ordinance’s release was perfectly legal and beneficial for Romania.