Romanian Media Owner Sorin Ovidiu Vintu To Be Investigated At Large For Blackmail

04.22.2011 ZF English

A Bucharest court ruled late Thursday Romanian businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vintu may be investigated at large for blackmailing the manager of his TV station, Realitatea Media, Sebastian Ghita.

A Bucharest court ruled late Thursday Romanian businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vintu may be investigated at large for blackmailing the manager of his TV station, Realitatea Media, Sebastian Ghita.

The court ruled Ion Ilie Cezar, Vintu's employee, will also be investigated at large.

Prosecutors, who want the two placed under preventive arrest, have appealed the ruling.

Vintu and Cezar had been detained for 24 hours on April 20.

Prosecutors said in a press release that, according to the evidence so far, in March-April 2011, Vintu demanded EUR150,000 from Ghita, who "would stand to lose significant amounts of money" should he refuse.

Vintu owns Realitatea-Catavencu, a group of media companies which includes Realitatea Media. Ghita owns the Asesoft IT group, which in October last year took over the management of Realitatea Media.

The members of the board of Asesoft had said, in a press release, they would file criminal complaints against Vintu. They accused the media mogul of using threats to get them to sign a contract allowing him to interfere with Realitatea's reporting. The board members further accused Vintu of running a group involved in "organized crime (money laundering, scams, blackmail, use of or threat of violence)."

On the other hand, the board of Realitatea Media said Ghita had interfered with the company's editorial activity and called for a shareholders' meeting to annul the contract with Asesoft.

Vintu himself offered no comment on the charges brought by Asesoft. He only said he had attempted to mediate between the two parties, but found Ghita "unreliable."