Curentul newspaper claims possession of audio recording, incriminating two journalists of blackmail attempt on National Integrity Agency chief

Marţi, 10 noiembrie 2009, 11:54 English | Top News

Curentul, a Romanian newspaper, has got an audio recording claiming to belong to the Interior Ministry General Authority for Information and Internal Protection (DGIPI), which would prove that there are leaks and cop-outs from the Romanian Interior Ministry's secret archive. According to Curentul, the recording features the voice of the National Integrity Authority (ANI) chief Catalin Macovei, being subjected to blackmail by two Romanian journalists: ex-Gandul editor-in-chief Bogdan Chirieac and ex-Ziua general manager Sorin Rosca Stanescu.

Curentul claims that the aim of the blackmail was achieving a public image of mistrust attached to PD-L ministers Vasile Blaga, Adriean Videanu and Radu Berceanu.

The newspaper goes on to say that the two journalists would have supposedly used an undeclared loan of 100,000 euros, which they got from an usurer, to blackmail the ANI chief and request from him documents from the National Integrity Authority, addressing the accounts of the three ministers, insisting on the accounts of the current temporary Interior minister Vasile Blaga.

Called by Curentul reporters, the ANI chief Catalin Macovei would have admitted that "there has been a discussion in this formula", adding that he could not comment on it. "If I had have followed their request, the data would have been out by now in the press and on blogs", he added.