Ex politician buys stake in media outlets

Newsroom 05/12/2011 | 11:15

Former politician Cozmin Gusa became the main shareholder in PSV Company, former Petromservice, last month, just hours before businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vantu, union leader Liviu Luca and the firm’s managers were arrested for embezzlement in the Petromservice case.

Gusa announced last week that he and Maricel Pacuraru had bought Elbahold, which owns 54 percent of PSV Company, gaining through this transaction a 20 percent stake in the Realitatea TV and OTV as well as other media licenses for local radio and TV stations and dailies such as Ziua and Gardianul. GMG Media Box, a firm owned by PSV Company, acquired 19.9 percent of Ocram Televiziune, which holds the license for OTV, back in 2010. “Unfortunately the paid price for the stake – EUR 40 million – was an incredible price for Romania.

Our interest is to see if the money was used in a profitable manner,” Gusa told hotnews.ro.
He added that his company has no intention of getting involved in the editorial policy of the two media outlets but that he is looking for ways to make a profit from the stake in order to pay some of Petromservice’s debts and make it a profitable business.

Referring to the scandal over Vantu’s arrest, Gusa strongly denied allegations that the transaction was made to the benefit of the controversial businessman. He added that the new PSV, controlled by himself and Pacuraru, is a party to the state’s case against Vantu and the other co-defendants, who are suspected of embezzling over EUR 83 million from the company. ∫ ∫

Simona Bazavan