Romanian Media Owner Vintu Arrested For One Month For Allegedly Aiding A Fraud Convict

Romanian media owner Sorin Ovidiu Vintu was placed under one-month preventive arrest Thursday night, along Octavian Turcan and Alex Stoian, on charges of aiding Nicolae Popa, sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud, flee the country.

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The Bucharest Court ruled the three are to be placed in custody until October 8.

Vintu, who owns news channel Realitatea TV news, allegedly helped Popa leave the country before he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for defrauding over 300,000 investors in the collapsed National Investment Fund (FNI), and sent him money while he was abroad.

The three defendants said they would appeal their arrest decision.

Popa, who fled Romania in May 2000, was arrested on December 2, 2009 by authorities in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Romanian Justice Ministry sent Indonesian authorities a request to extradite Popa. Indonesia does not have an extradition treaty with Romania, but the Indonesian president has approved Romania's extradition request.

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