BUCHAREST, Aug 8 (Reuters) - A Bucharest court sentenced Romanian businessman and politician Dan Voiculescu to 10 years in prison on Friday after a six-year-long corruption case.
One of Romania's richest men and the founder of the Conservative Party, a junior member in Romania's ruling leftist alliance, Voiculescu has been on trial with 12 others since 2008 over the privatisation of a food research institute in 2003.
Voiculescu, who collaborated with the Communist secret police, bought the institute, which owned prime land and buildings in Bucharest, for 104,730 euros, a fraction of its real value, which was 7.9 million euros at the time.
Prosecutors want 60 million euros ($80 million) in damages to cover the property's increase in value after a 2003-2006 real estate boom, and, on Friday, seized Voiculescu family accounts and property, including the headquarters of TV station Antena 3.
Voiculescu has said prosecutors were persecuting him, and told the court the case was based on false accusations and not evidence. On Friday, he said the case was orchestrated by President Traian Basescu, a long-standing political rival.
Voiculescu was twice elected to Romania's Senate. He resigned both times, which prolonged the trial, as under Romanian legislation top officials are judged by the Supreme Court, and his resignation reassigned his case to lower courts.
He appealed last year's initial conviction and sentence of five years but, on Friday, Bucharest Court of Appeals judges upheld the verdict and doubled his sentence.
Romania ranks behind only Greece and Bulgaria in terms of corruption in the 28-nation European Union, according to Transparency International, and the European Commission has its justice system under special monitoring.
Judges and anti-corruption prosecutors have earned praise from the EU for their efforts to combat high-level corruption. More than 1,000 people were sentenced to jail for corruption last year, a 41-percent rise on 2012.
Six ministers and parliamentarians, five county council heads, 34 mayors and deputy mayors, judges, lawyers and managers of state firms were on trial for corruption in 2013. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
