Romania's anti-graft prosecutors arrested central bank deputy governor Bogdan Olteanu today in a corruption investigation that targets his 2008 parliamentary activity, the prosecutors said, the first arrest of a leading central banker in the country.
"He is now at our prosecuting headquarters, in detention," one DNA prosecuting official told Reuters by telephone. "An inquiry is underway."
The anti-graft prosecutors, the DNA, want Olteanu detained for 30 days, the official said.
"There is data and evidence that shows ... in 2008, Bogdan Olteanu, as lower house speaker, had requested and received 1 million euros and electoral support from a businessman, to persuade the Romanian government members to appoint a certain person as governor of the Danube Delta," the DNA said in a statement.
Olteanu was the lower house speaker in 2006-2008. He was a member of the Liberal party of former Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu, the ruling party at the time.
The DNA did not identify the candidate Olteanu wanted appointed, but Liviu Mihaiu, the delta's administrator in 2008-2009, was quoted by local media as saying he had no knowledge of a transaction related to his nomination.
Olteanu has been one of the central bank's nine-member board since 2009. The investigation will not impede monetary policy-making, said the central bank, which has kept rates at a record low since mid-2015 and will next take an interest rate decision on Aug. 4 with eight board members.
A replacement for Olteanu on the bank's board can only be debated by parliament after it reconvenes from summer recess next month.
Romania is considered one of the EU's most corrupt member states. Brussels keeps its justice system under special monitoring, although it has praised prosecutors and magistrates for a widespread crackdown on high-level graft.
In the last two years, prosecutors have begun investigations against some of the most powerful and well-connected people in Romania.
Last year, Prime Minister Victor Ponta was indicted for forgery, money-laundering and being an accessory to tax evasion. He resigned in November after a deadly night club fire that triggered massive street protests against widespread corruption