Fmr Chamber Speaker Valeriu Zgonea, convicted to 3 years in prison for influence peddling

Former Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Valeriu Zgonea was convicted on Monday by the Bucharest Tribunal to three years imprisonment for the crime of influence peddling, in a case in which he stood accused by the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) of intervening to appoint the daughter of a local social-democrat councilor in Buzau to an important public position. The court also disposed the maintaining of the preventive measures until the sum of 62,143 RON is reached. The decision of the court is not final and can be appealed. According to the documents administered by prosecutors, in the July 2012 - April 2013 period, when he was the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and a deputy chair of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Zgonea accepted the promise made by Dumitru Dobrica, PSD county councilor in Buzau, regarding the receipt of some undeserved goods in exchange for appointing his daughter to a high public position. The daughter in question is Ionela Viorela Dobrica, currently PSD deputy for Buzau. Later, the prosecutors show, Zgonea received from Dobrica undeserved goods totaling 62,143 RON, representing the value of some tourism services and costs relating to building a vacation home in Covasna County. Thus, Dobrica had paid in 2013 a trip to Vienna and concert tickets for Zgonea. According to the DNA, on April 22, 2013, following demarches made by Valeriu Zgonea, Dobrica's daughter was appointed chair of the National Management Center for the Information Society of the Ministry for Information Society, although she did not have education specialized in the domain. Later, also following demarches made by Zgonea, Dobrica's daughter kept her position at the level of the central public administration, being appointed, on January 23, 2014, as undersecretary of state in the Ministry of Communications and for the Information Society. Dumitru Dobrica concluded a plea bargain with the DNA, which was not accepted by judges.AGERPRES(RO - author: Eusebi Manolache, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Razvan-Adrian Pandea, editor: Maria Voican)