Sorin Ovidiu Vântu fails again in court

Sorin Ovidiu Vântu received another blow from the legal system: his request to challenge the judge, filed by his lawyers, was rejected. As a result, the case will still be tried by judge Camelia Bogdan.

The businessman"s lawyers launched a direct attack on the judge, motivating their challenge by the fact that she could not be objective, since her father was one of those who lost money with National Investment Fund (FNI). Besides, they have claimed that Nicolae Bogdan was also a plaintiff claiming damages in the case concerning the collapse of the National Investment Fund, a case in which Nicolae Popa was sentenced to 15 years of prison. The court will set a new hearing to allow the trial to continue. At Tuesday"s hearing, Sorin Ovidiu Vântu came to the Court of Bucharest in a wheelchair, with an immobilized leg, and once again said he did not wish to make any statements before the court because he had doubts of the fairness of the trial.

Sorin Ovidiu Vântu was sued for providing ongoing aid to a criminal. "Between October 2009 and January 2010 the defendant Sorin Ovidiu Vântu sent two installments of 50,000 Euros and 20,000 Euros, respectively, out of the total amount of 200,000 Euros a year that he had agreed to send to convict Popa Nicolae. Nicolae Popa needed the money to hide from the authorities which were entitled to carry out the European arrest warrant which had been issued on his name, in order to have him serve his term of 15 years in prison, to which he was sentenced by definitive and enforceable court ruling", as stated in the press release of the prosecutor"s office which was made public in the beginning of the trial.