CEO of Romania’s Turceni Power Plant Resigns Due to Criminal Probe Against Him

The purpose of Cristea's resignation, effective from Monday, is to avoid doubts, the context of the ongoing probe, that he may pressure witnesses or seal acquisition contracts, which would hurt the company's operations, Romania’s privatisation agency AVAS said in a statement.

Romania's anti-graft authority, DNA, launched a criminal investigation against Cristea last week, saying he allegedly abused his position by arranging the acquisition of supposedly new equipment, which turned out to be second-hand and could not be used, causing damages of 800,000 lei ($264,905/210,325 euro) to the plant. Dumitru could not be reached for comment.

The coal-fired Turceni power plant (www.eturceni.ro), located in southwestern Romania, has an installed capacity of 2,310 megawatts (MW) and a current operational capacity of about 1,260 MW.

(1 euro = 3.8036 Romanian lei)