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Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea on Friday stated that his party never paid any money to any US company for arranging him meetings with US officials.
"I have also read that article this morning and I called the party to check, for I was very much surprised, but I thought that maybe someone had some kind of idea. But PSD has never concluded any contract with any company of the sort, less paid any money. (...) And also, 100,000 is a small amount for me, isn't it? PSD has no such agreement with any company of the sort and it didn't pay any money to any company," said Dragnea at the Parliament Palace.
Asked whether he knew Gheorghe Dimitrescu, adviser to Florin Iordache, Dragnea said that he didn't.
"I checked with the party and he isn't," he specified.
Asked if he intended to pay a visit to the US in the next interval, the PSD leader said: "I have no intention to, but if I receive an invitation and I am allowed to go, I will gladly do it."
He also added that Florin Iordache has never told him that he was preparing a visit to the US for him.
An Website specialized in monitoring the activity of the US Congress and the lobby activities - Legistorm - on Thursday published an article saying that Liviu Dragnea, Speaker of Romanian Parliament's lower chamber and party president is trying to arrange meetings with Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan.
The source also specified that Dragnea received a two-year suspended jail sentence last year for trying to rig a referendum election to impeach the country's president. According to some recent notifications submitted to the US Department of Justice and quoted by journalist Keturah Hetrick, which signs the article, the Social Democratic Party is paying 100,000 US dollars to introduce Dragnea to Pence and Ryan "as soon as possible" and to arrange "political, media and academic meetings" for him.
