Florin Georgescu questioned

The prosecutors of the High Court of Cassation and Justice yesterday asked the former Finance Minister Florin Georgescu (photo) questions about the endorsement of the Government decision on the transfer, to Rompetrol, of the obligations to explore an oil block in Libya. Judicial sources told Mediafax that the questions regarded Georgescu”s approval of Government Decision 1571993 on the transfer of the obligations and rights of the Romanian party in the Agreement for exploration and production sharing in the NC-115 block in Libya. Georgescu did so in his capacity as a Finance Minister (a position held between 1992-1996). Through this decision, the Government approved the transfer to Compania Repsol Exploracion S.A. (Spain) of the obligations and rights of the Romanian party in the above-mentioned agreement, according to the transfer agreements signed by Rompetrol with National Oil Corporation (Libya) and Repsol Exploracion S.A. According to the aforementioned government decision, the transfer of the obligations and rights of the Romanian party was supposed to ensure recovery of the expenses encountered during the exploration and development stages, including the associated interests, with the conditions for the rescheduling of the receipts set in an annex of the government decision. The amounts derived from talks and remaining after payment of contractual dues to the National Oil Corporation and loan repayment were supposed to be transferred to the state budget. At the end of the hearings, Florin Georgescu, who was heard as a witness, stated, “the elements of this operation happened after 1996.”