Supreme Court suspends trial of Romanian ex-minister

BUCHAREST, Romania

The Supreme Court decided on Friday (July 17th) to suspend the trial of former Transport Minister Miron Mitrea on corruption charges, local media reported. Mitrea is accused of having taken bribes when he was in the minister position worth almost 200,000 euros between 2000 and 2004, to appoint Irina Jianu as deputy head of the country’s construction works inspectorate. According to the indictment, in exchange, construction companies connected with Jianu built a house for Mitrea’s mother for free. The Supreme Court decided to send the case to the Constitutional Court which is to examine the investigative procedure’s compliance with the constitution.