Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A Romanian court has sentenced a former Bucharest district mayor to eight years in prison for illegally selling the city's real estate at a price far below its market value.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal announced the sentence Friday against Cristian Poteras and four town hall employees, who were imprisoned between 3 ½ and five years. The ruling is final.
The court said the town hall employees had helped Poteras with the six illegal real estate transactions in 2005-2006, which caused damages to the state worth 58.2 million euros ($64.6 million).
Judges ordered that 19.9 million euros ($22 million) be confiscated from one person for one transaction and 810,000 euros ($900,000) from another.
Romania has stepped up its anti-corruption drive in recent months.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.