Bucharest: Former Romanian PM Adrian Nastase tried to commit suicide, hours after he was sentenced by the country’s top court to serve two years in prison for illegal fundraising.
He was reported to be out of danger. Nastase shot himself in the neck, and was sent to Floreasca Emergency Hospital. Nastase, 62, was found to have abused “the influence or authority of the office of a party chairman to organise a symposium in order to raise money for the presidential election campaign he was to embark on.”
The participation fees for the symposium, amounting to more than 1.6 million euro (about $2 million), were transferred to a company that provided various services during the presidential campaign of the social-democratic leader. In January 2012, the Romanian high court had sentenced Nastase to two years in prison, but the latter challenged the sentence by appeal, arguing that the trial was politically motivated. (IANS)