British company demands damages of 100 million dollars from Romania in high corruption case

Luni, 5 mai 2008, 9:38 English | Regional Europe

A British company demands moral damages amounting to 100 million dollars from Romania in a high corruption case which involved the 2000-2004 Social Democratic Government lead by Adrian Nastase, British daily Financial Times reads in its Friday edition. The Eastern Duty Free company accuses that it lost contracts with Romania's International Airport and Tarom Airlines after it refused to bribe the then incumbent PM's close friends with 2.5 million dollars.

Company representatives say they have an audio tape that registered the person requesting the bribe. The newspaper reads that an international tribunal in Washington will be instrumenting the case and this could be the first when such a case will be brought to light.

EDF representatives say that between 2001-2002 they have been contacted by friends of the then PM Adrian Nastase who requested a 2.5 million dollars bribe to extend the contracts EDF won in 1992 and 1996. EDF officials declare that, because they have refused to pay up the sum, they lost the contract.