Former tourism minister Elena Udrea is to be released on parole from Târgșor Prison on Thursday, July 17, following a final decision issued by the Prahova Tribunal. The court rejected an appeal filed by the anti-corruption prosecutors (DNA Ploiești), who had challenged a previous ruling by the Ploiești Court approving Udrea’s conditional release, Agerpres reported.
Elena Udrea has been serving her sentence at Târgșor Prison since June 2022, after being extradited from Bulgaria.
In the “Gala Bute” case, prosecutors accused Udrea of coordinating a scheme through which people close to her received money from business representatives in exchange for timely payments on contracts funded by the Ministry of Tourism, which she led at the time. Investigators said the money either went directly to Elena Udrea, through cash or payments for goods and services, or to the Bucharest branch of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) and former Romanian Boxing Federation president Rudel Obreja.
Udrea was also accused of pressuring ministry officials to break procurement rules when arranging advertising services for the boxing event featuring Lucian Bute.
The damages in the case were estimated at EUR 3 million.
irina.marica@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)
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