Romanian Oil Businessman Arrested In The Rafo Onesti Case

Ovidiu Tender, a Romanian who made his fortune in the oil business, is the first prominent businessman to go to jail, albeit on a 30-day custody.

Prosecutors asked for Tender’s arrest during their investigation into his alleged economic crimes, saying he tried to influence an expert working for them.

The ruling came as a surprise after a 16-hour battle in court.

Judge Petru Rosu wanted to opt out and recuse himself, but his superiors did not agree, so he pondered for hours over the pros and cons for Tender’s arrest.

Rosu decided for Tender’s immediate arrest, as the anti-corruption prosecutors asked.

Neither Tender nor his lawyers were present in court when the judge made public his ruling, but one hour later Tender arrived at the prosecutor’s office to be taken into custody.

His last public statement was that he "respected the court ruling," though he did not expect it, since the prosecutors invented crimes he did not commit. He added he appealed the decision.

Tender was indicted in the case of Rafo Onesti oil refinery - CAROM company, for a series of economic crimes resulting in defrauding state-coffers of 270 million lei sabout 77 million eurost.

A week ago, prosecutors asked the court to replace the decision to prevent Tender from leaving the country with a ruling to take him in custody, after they found out that Tender allegedly attempted to pay a 100,000 euros bribe to one of the experts working on his case.