Elena Udrea

Bulgarian police stopped former Romanian Minister of Tourism and Development Elena Udrea from leaving the country after hearing that a Romanian court had sentenced her to six years in prison.

The final verdict confirmed a sentence originally issued in June 2018 for bribery, abuse of office and tax evasion over a boxing match.

Former Romanian Tourism Minister Elena Udrea, who was finally sentenced to six years in prison for corruption yesterday, has been arrested in Bulgaria and will be handed over to Romanian authorities, BTA reported.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected today the request of the anti-corruption prosecutors to place former Minister of Tourism Elena Udrea under court supervision with a ban on leaving the country in the case in which she was sentenced in the first instance to eight years in prison. The decision is not final and can be appealed by the prosecutors.

The Romanian Court of Appeal on Tuesday sentenced former President Traian Basescu's daughter, Ioana Basescu, to five years in prison for her involvement in laundering money for her father's electoral campaign.

Former Minister Elena Udrea was sentenced on Tuesday by the Bucharest Court of Appeal to 8 years in prison for committing crimes of instigating to bribe taking and money laundering in the case on financing Traian Basescu's election campaign in the 2009 presidential election. Udrea received several sentences, ranging from 3 to 6 years, for committing the two crimes.

Elena Udrea's lawyer Veronel Radulescu stated on Thursday morning that the former Transport Minister will be brought before court after being detained by the Interpol, but, from his point of view, she will not be extradited because her daughter has Costa Rican citizenship and she cannot be separated from her mother.

Fugitive former senior officials Elena Udrea and Alina Bica of Romania were apprehended by police in Costa Rica on Wednesday night.

Elena Udrea and Alina Bica are said to have been arrested in Costa Rica after the local police enforced a request of Interpol, the website sitiooij.poder-judicial.go.cr informs.

Romania is exploring ways to extradite high-profile former officials who are on trial for corruption and seeking political asylum in Costa Rica or Madagascar - which have not signed extradition treaties with Bucharest.

Two Romanian ministers have been widely mocked on social media over suggestions that a sheep, one of the country's folkloric symbols, should represent the country's tourism industry at an international level.