Supervisors lead the former minister in court PHOTO: THE AUTHOR

We return to her homeland Elena Udrya to lie down for 6 years in prison for bribery

She claims she does not know that she is wanted

Former Romanian Minister of Regional Development and Tourism Elena Udrya is trying for the second time to escape from prison by fleeing abroad through Bulgaria.

She was in Costa Rica when she was first sentenced for bribery, and on Thursday she tried to cross the Bulgarian border in Greece.

She was arrested at the Kulata border checkpoint on Thursday at around 6.30 pm, the prosecutor’s office said.

She was traveling to

Greece with

luxurious

Mercedes

and satellite,

also Romanian. Elena Udrya was detained on a European arrest warrant issued earlier in the day by Romanian authorities for a final conviction for bribery and abuse of office.

Shortly before noon on Thursday before the decision of the Supreme Court in Bucharest for 6 years in prison became known, she left her homeland through Giurgiu and entered our country. While traveling through Bulgaria, Romanian authorities found they could not find her and issued a European arrest warrant. The police in our country have also been informed and the car was spotted at the Kulata border checkpoint.

Strikes spent the night in the custody of the Border Police in Petrich. The Blagoevgrad District Prosecutor’s Office was immediately notified and a file was opened. A 24-hour detention order has been issued, followed by a prosecutor’s decree for another 72 hours, Chief Prosecutor Siika Mileva said in charge of a briefing on Friday. The European Arrest Warrant, translated into Bulgarian, was expected to arrive from Bucharest. After that, the Blagoevgrad District Prosecutor’s Office submitted a request to the District Court to determine a permanent measure of restraint “detention in custody”. In parallel with the proceedings for the measure, so is the extradition.

The court on Friday

adjourn the case,

because it was not

insured

translator

from Romanian.

“My client did not get acquainted with the European Arrest Warrant and other documents. I just got them. I talked to her and she told me that she did not know that she was wanted, so she had to leave Romania. I don’t know if she traveled only to Greece or to another country “, said Elena Udrya’s lawyer Albina Aneva.

It is possible that during the trial of the 49-year-old former minister, she will be asked to be voluntarily handed over to the Romanian authorities, which will significantly shorten the procedure, and this could happen as early as Monday.

Udrya was convicted in a case known in Romania as Bute’s Gala Evening for bribery and abuse of office. According to the Romanian TV station “Digi 24”, it is

received 1 million

euro bribe from

businessmen,

to settle contracts with the state.

The money was handled by a network of close associates, including Rudel Obrezha, the former president of the Boxing Federation.

He helped Udrya organize the 2010 Bute Gala Evening, named after renowned Romanian boxer Lucian Bute, the world champion of the International Boxing Federation, with money from the tourism ministry. However, the Minister was not entitled to finance such events. Therefore, a contract for advertising the tourist brand on the site was simulated. Prosecutors say Udrya used Lucian Bute’s popularity to raise campaign capital using 2m euros in state funds. Under the guise of advertising the country’s tourist brand, the Ministry of Tourism has paid a large part of what was organized at the boxing match. It is also determined to take bribes, at least three times, from businessmen to arrange contracts with the state. The investigation into the case began in 2011.

Elena Udrya was convicted at first instance in 2018. When the sentence was handed down, she was in Costa Rica. And then the road passed through Bulgaria through Giurgiu, then heading first to Greece and then to Costa Rica. The Central American state refused to grant asylum and Udrya was arrested and returned to her homeland after Romania’s Constitutional Court overturned the sentence.

Now, however, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court of Cassation has rejected as unfounded the requests of Elena Udrya and the other defendants in the case to overturn the sentence.

Two more lawsuits are pending against her. The former minister became known for her close ties to former President Traian Basescu. For a short time, she was the leader of her People’s Movement party, and was a candidate in the November 2014 presidential election.