Romania’s ruling party strongman begins jail sentence

BUCHAREST: Romania´s ruling party strongman Liviu Dragnea was jailed on Monday, Romanian media reported, hours after his appeal against a corruption conviction failed.

Dragnea, 56, was seen being driven in a police car into the Rahova prison on the outskirts of Bucharest, in images carried live on Romanian television late on Monday afternoon. Just hours earlier a court had confirmed his original three-and-a-half-year jail sentence. The verdict will almost certainly remove from public life a man who was widely seen as the puppet master behind the Social Democrats (PSD) and the government they lead. Dragnea was also a key figure in his party´s push for controversial judicial reforms which have led to clashes with Brussels and have overshadowed Romania´s first-ever EU presidency.