JURIST - Paper Chase: Romania court confirms sentence against former PM

[JURIST] Romania's High Court of Cassation and Justice [official website, in Romanian] on Wednesday confirmed the two-year sentence against former prime minister Adrian Nastase [personal website, in Romanian]. He had been charged with graft and corruption [lawyer notes, in Romanian], found guilty and sentenced [JURIST report] in January to two years in prison. He and other conspirators were accused of having raised funds through taxation under a company called "trophy quality construction works" that then funneled USD $2.2 million to Nastase's failed presidential campaign. Nastase announced after the initial sentencing that he would appeal the ruling because it was politically biased. However, Wednesday's ruling made the sentence final, and Nastase is likely to serve the two-year term in prison.

Romania has been constantly called to show more results in fighting graft and corruption prevailing within the national borders since it joined [JURIST report] the European Union (EU) [official website] in 2007. In March 2010, the European Commission (EC) [official website] released reports [JURIST report] calling Romania [report, PDF; summary, PDF] along with Bulgaria [report, PDF; summary, PDF] to do more to combat corruption and organized crime, and conduct judicial reforms in order to enjoy their full rights as members of the EU. It made the same call [JURIST report] in 2009.