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The Minister of the Interior, Lucian Bode, was heard on Monday, as a witness, at the Bucharest Court of Appeal (CAB), in the "Hidroelectrica" case, in which Elena Udrea is being tried for influence peddling and money laundering and Dan Andronic is accused of perjury, according to AGERPRES.
Bode explained that he was called to testify before the court about the contracts concluded by Hidroelectrica in 2012, when he was minister of economy.
Asked by journalists if there was pressure at any time for certain companies to benefit from preferential tariffs from Hidroelectrica, Bode said: "No. I have pursued the interest of the Romanian state and the results of the negotiations at the end of my term are proof of my statement."
In this case, Elena Udrea is accused by National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) of accepting the promise made through intermediaries by the businessman Bogdan Buzaianu, in 2011, to receive the sum of 5 million dollars in order to exert her influence on the decision-makers within the Ministry of Economy and Hidroelectrica, in order to maintain, in the conditions already negotiated, the contracts that the businessman's company had concluded with the energy producing company.
In the case of Dan Andronic, DNA claims that, when he was heard as a witness, he made false statements about the essential aspects of the case.
Elena Udrea has been recently sentenced to eight years in prison in another case, but the decision is not final.
