Romanian Senate Speaker Nicolae Vacaroiu said on Wednesday that the recent report in the daily Romania libera alleging that he is corrupt is part of a scenario intended to discredit him politically, and that he will prove this in court "in due time," the local press reported. He said he has launched a civil suit against Romania libera Editor-in-Chief Petre Mihai Bacanu and intends to donate the damages won in court to an orphanage.

Vacaroiu said he would resign if just 1% of Bacanu's allegations can be proved in court. He rejected Bacanu's claim that monthly payments he received from the Investment and Development Bank BID after quitting as bank director and taking over the Senate's chairmanship do not reflect a continuation of his being on the BID payroll. They are instalments paid by his successor, Corneliu Croitoru, to repay a private loan Vacaroiu had given him, explained Vacaroiu.

(NewsBase 14.x.02)