Latest: Corruption and Money Laundering.

Romanian former PM accused of corruption over Tony Blair visit.

Victor Ponta leaves the high court in Bucharest after a
 hearing last year. Photograph: Vadim Ghirda/AP

The former Romanian prime minister Victor Ponta is being investigated for alleged financial corruption relating to a visit by Tony Blair in 2012.

Romanian state prosecutors questioned Ponta on Tuesday about allegations that he misused his authority as leader of the Social Democratic party to persuade Blair to come to Romania.

They accuse Ponta of offering Sebastian Ghita, a local businessman, a seat in parliament in exchange for paying €220,000 (£184,000) to cover the costs of a visit by a political figure. Ghita told the Mediafax news agency that this figure was Blair.

Prosecutors said Ponta arranged the visit so it looked as if it had been initiated and organised by non-political groups, and that he benefited from press coverage of the visit.

Blair’s office said it was contacted by the Multimedia Foundation for Local Democracy to make the speech, and that the contact came via an American thinktank, the Centre for American Progress. Blair was paid a substantial fee for giving a lecture on the future ofEurope, with the money passed in its entirety to one of his charities.

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