A Romanian media businessman accused of working for former communist secret service

Sorin Ovidiu Vantu, Romanian businessman with interest in one of the biggest media companies, Realitatea-Catavencu, was accused, in an article published by the news site HotNews.ro, of working for the secret service under the former communist regime.

The businessman, that refused to comment the information in the article and said he reserves his right to react after its publishing, announced that he will sue HotNews.ro, appreciating that the file on which the site based its story is part of a campaign that runs against him after last year’s presidential elections,

The investigative article published by HotNews.ro and Kamikaze says that Sorin Ovidiu Vantu signed a pledge to be informer for the former communist secret services, in 1983. According to the material, the alias used back than by the nowadays businessman was “Nuş”. The documents used for the article appear to be from the personal file of SOV and the journalists also had declarations of a former communist Secret Service officer according to which the businessman was actually an informant, recruited while he was serving a jail sentence for embezzlement.

After the publishing of the article, Civic Media, a non governmental association, asked the authorities to check all media owners in Romania, in order to establish if they worked, in the past, for the communist secret services. This way, Civic Media asks CNSAS to check the past of Dinu Patriciu (owner of Adevarul Holding), Sorin Ovidiu Vântu (long time investor and former shareholder of Realitatea Catavencu Group), Adrian Sârbu (CEO Central Media Enterprises, founder of MediaPro Group), Dan Grigore Adamescu (Romania Libera)