A Romanian court on Monday sentenced a prominent businessman to 10 years and eight months in prison for bribery and influence peddling.
The Appeal Court in the Black Sea port of Constanta handed down the sentence to Sorin Strutinsky following a five-year trial. The ruling is final.
Police later issued a warrant for Strutinsky, 53, after he failed to hand himself in and he could not be found at home.
Strutinksy, the chairman of the CVM Tomis Constanta volley club, is known for his close ties to two jailed politicians from Constanta, the former mayor Radu Mazare, and the former president of the county council Nicusor Constantinescu.
Mazare was sentenced to nine years in jail in 2019 over the fraudulent sale of prime real estate in the upmarket resort of Mamaia. Constantinescu is serving a 10-year sentence for embezzling funds from the state.
The court also ordered that 2 million lei be confiscated from Strutinsky.
Police issued a statement saying his sentence was for influence peddling, instigation to forgery, instigation to forging someone’s signature, and money laundering. He is charged with having received 2 million euros in bribes.
Prosecutors said over a period of several years, he used his political connections to demand a series of bribes.
