Romania Seeks Answers from Serbia Over Stalled Extradition

Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader was in Belgrade on Monday to discuss the extradition of a politician wanted in Romania for graft with his Serbian counterpart, Nela Kuburovic.

The meeting lasted an hour and, according to the Romanian minister of Justice, the two officials discussed Serbia's plans to join the EU as well as "mentioning" Sebastian Ghita's case.

"Only judges, not the minister, can decide [on Ghita's extradition]," Toader told journalists on leaving the Serbian Justice Ministry on his way to a meeting with the head of the Serbian Constitutional Court.

Toader also said Romania had sent all the documents requested by the Serbian authorities - the last papers filed on March 9.

Ghita, 39, who is wanted over five different corruption cases, vanished from Bucharest on December 19, 2016, while under police surveillance. According to investigators, he spent four months on the run in several European countries, including Serbia.

He was arrested in Belgrade in April last year after he identified himself with Slovenian papers, and a Serbian police patrol thought it strange a "Slovenian" was speaking only in English.

Ghita's extradition has become a hot topic in the country's relations with neighboring Serbia, as the process has been stalling since April 2017.

The former Social Democrat Party MP and financier made hundreds of millions of euros from IT contracts with the government, as well as owning Romania's most successful basketball team and a news television channel.

During his term in the Chamber of Deputies from 2012 to 2016, he headed the commission that supervises the activity of the Romanian Intelligence Service, SRI.

He also faces two international and domestic arrest warrants after the...