The corruption trial of Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta will begin on Monday, state news agency Agerpress said on Friday.
The 43-year-old Social Democrat leader, who denies charges of fraud, tax evasion and money laundering, will be the first Romanian head of government to stand trial while still in office.
The DNA anti-corruption agency announced the charges against Ponta on Thursday, saying some of the premier's assets had been frozen pending the outcome of the case.
The charges date back to 2007-2011, when Ponta -- once Europe's youngest national leader -- was working as a lawyer.
The investigation has sparked calls for Ponta to resign, but he has refused to go, firmly denying the allegations and promising to cooperate with the probe. He said on Sunday he is stepping down as head of his party while he fights the allegations.
Prosecutors accuse Ponta of receiving the equivalent of 55,000 euros ($63,000) from Dan Sova, a political ally and member of parliament suspected by prosecutors of abuse of power but who enjoys immunity.
Sova was named a minister three times by Ponta before resigning in 2014.
Dozens of former politicians and judges have been swept up in investigations launched by the anti-corruption agency in one of Europe's poorest and graft-plagued countries.
Prosecutors also suspect Ponta -- a keen rally driver and navigator -- of conflict of interest during his time as premier. But that probe was stymied when parliament, where Ponta's party has a comfortable majority, refused last month to lift his immunity from prosecution.
The centre-left prime minister's legal troubles have prompted a fresh crisis in the European Union's second poorest nation, with the opposition and Ponta's arch rival, President Klaus Iohannis -- to whom he lost a bitter presidential election last year -- calling for him to step down.
Probes by the DNA have cost a string of prominent Romanians their jobs over recent years.
Under the leadership of Laura Kosevi, a 42-year-old former basketball player who took the helm of the agency in 2013, the DNA has upped the pace on anti-graft investigations started by her predecessor.
More than 1,100 were sent to trial by the agency in 2014 over graft allegations with a record 10,200 cases under investigation.
The corruption trial of Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta will begin on Monday, state news agency Agerpress said on Friday.
The 43-year-old Social Democrat leader, who denies charges of fraud, tax evasion and money laundering, will be the first Romanian head of government to stand trial while still in office.
The DNA anti-corruption agency announced the charges against Ponta on Thursday, saying some of the premier’s assets had been frozen pending the outcome of the case.
The charges date back to 2007-2011, when Ponta — once Europe’s youngest national leader — was working as a lawyer.
The investigation has sparked calls for Ponta to resign, but he has refused to go, firmly denying the allegations and promising to cooperate with the probe. He said on Sunday he is stepping down as head of his party while he fights the allegations.
Prosecutors accuse Ponta of receiving the equivalent of 55,000 euros ($63,000) from Dan Sova, a political ally and member of parliament suspected by prosecutors of abuse of power but who enjoys immunity.
Sova was named a minister three times by Ponta before resigning in 2014.
Dozens of former politicians and judges have been swept up in investigations launched by the anti-corruption agency in one of Europe’s poorest and graft-plagued countries.
Prosecutors also suspect Ponta — a keen rally driver and navigator — of conflict of interest during his time as premier. But that probe was stymied when parliament, where Ponta’s party has a comfortable majority, refused last month to lift his immunity from prosecution.
The centre-left prime minister’s legal troubles have prompted a fresh crisis in the European Union’s second poorest nation, with the opposition and Ponta’s arch rival, President Klaus Iohannis — to whom he lost a bitter presidential election last year — calling for him to step down.
Probes by the DNA have cost a string of prominent Romanians their jobs over recent years.
Under the leadership of Laura Kosevi, a 42-year-old former basketball player who took the helm of the agency in 2013, the DNA has upped the pace on anti-graft investigations started by her predecessor.
More than 1,100 were sent to trial by the agency in 2014 over graft allegations with a record 10,200 cases under investigation.
