BREAKING. The name of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, in the file of businessman Fănel Bogos, now investigated by DNA. The government confirms that Bolojan met with Bogos, but claims that the discussion “had no consequences”

The spokeswoman for the Government, Ioana Dogioiu, confirmed, in a reaction to HotNews, that Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan met on September 23 with businessman Fanel Bogos, investigated now by DNA. The reaction comes after what AFP wrote that Bogos used “networks of influence” to replace the management of DSVSA Vaslui with people who would promote his firm's “financial interests”.

• According to Mediafax, which cites the investigation, Bogos allegedly paid 1.5 million euros to the person who brokered the meeting with Ilie Bolojan, but to no avail.

The meeting between Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and Fanel Bogos took place at the PNL headquarters, following an audience requested by PNL leader Vaslui, Mihai Barbu, according to the Government spokeswoman.

“According to the entry register, on September 23, Mr. Barbu, president of PNL Vaslui, was in an audience with the prime minister, an audience he had requested on political issues. Mr. Barbu came accompanied by Mr. Fanel Bogos”, Ioana Dogioiu said in a reaction to HotNews.

“About 15 minutes talk”

The discussion between the three “lasted about 15 minutes”: “It had no consequences regarding the situation of Mr. Bogos, on which the Prime Minister did not make any assessments.”

Mediafax writes that Fănel Bogos “allegedly remitted the sum of 1.5 million euros to the person who brokered the meeting with Ilie Bolojan”. How does the Government comment?

“The Prime Minister emphasizes that he is not aware of whether anyone claimed/received any benefit of any kind for the promise of an audience with his lordship,” Ioana Dogioiu said.

“At the same time, Prime Minister Bolojan draws attention that the attempt to obtain or mediate audiences with any dignitary through such methods attracts the responsibility of those who do it, according to the legal provisions, and must be sanctioned as such”, the Government spokeswoman also declared.

What Mediafax wrote

In the interceptions and statements played by the prosecutors, Bogos states that he was going to have, through Mihai Barbu – PNL leader Vaslui and president of the Railway Reform Authority, a meeting with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, to present the situation to him, writes MEDIAFAX.

“On Tuesday, Bolojan called me to him, on behalf of a Mr. Barbu… We will meet for sure,” Bogos is said to have said, according to the recordings in the file.

The prosecutors note, however, that there are no elements that indicate a direct involvement of the prime minister in the investigated facts, the discussions being reported only by Bogos in the intercepted conversations.

The file in which the businessman Fănel Bogos is involved

DNA prosecutors – Iași Territorial Service carried out, on Wednesday, 23 searches in seven counties and the municipality of Bucharest, in a case concerning corruption offenses and similar to corruption offences, according to a press release sent by DNA. The person targeted by the investigation is the Vaslui businessman Fănel Bogos, the owner of the Vanbet company, who last month was detained by the Vaslui police on the charge of intentionally killing a horse.

Trafficking in influence, blackmail, bribery and the use of influence or authority in order to obtain money, goods or other undue benefits for oneself or for another, are the crimes referred to in the file instrumented by the DNA.

Following the searches, several people will be brought to the hearings, some of them being members of a political party, DNA announced.

A veterinarian by profession, Fănel Bogos is accused of having tried to replace the head of the Vaslui Veterinary Sanitary Directorate for a fine received by his company, say judicial sources. Bogos' company was fined last year for selling chicken infected with Salmonella in supermarkets.

Fănel Bogos would have planned the removal from the management of DSV Vaslui, Mihai Ponea, with the support of former generals and secret service officers.

Mihai Barbu, targeted by the DNA, the intermediary of the meeting with Bolojan

Among those targeted by the DNA investigation is the president of PNL Vaslui, Mihai Barbu. He is suspected of having pressured DSVSA Vaslui's director to change his position, say judicial sources.

Barbu took over the leadership of PNL Vaslui, last year, after the former president Nelu Tătaru, indicted by the DNA for acts of corruption, was suspended from the party. Mihai Barbu is currently president with the rank of state secretary within the Railway Reform Authority.