Ex-Minister Faces New Charges in Romania

Romania's anti-corruption prosecutors have indicted the former minister and presidential candidate Elena Udrea.

She faces charges of accepting bribes and abuse of power from 2010 to 2012 while she served as tourism minister. Udrea is accused of of accepting bribes worth 1.8 million euro.

Seven other people have been indicted in the case, including former economy minister Ion Ariton who is charged with abuse of power.

Ariton, who now sits in Romania's senate, is accused of convincing ten state-owned companies to sponsor a private event, which is against the law.

The prosecutors say that Udrea and her associates took bribes from private firms in exchange for guarantees that they would be paid promptly for public works contracts.

The former minister denies wrongdoing.

Udrea is already being investigated in two other cases and has been in custody since late February.

Udrea previously accused a senior intelligence officer of meddling in politics and threatened to release damning information on certain politicians and journalists.

The investigation into her finances has dominated Romanian news and coverage of the developments for the past couple of weeks has been almost non-stop.