Romania: Israeli Nati Meir jailed for fraud, tax evasion
Former member of Romanian parliament jailed for charging people to help them get jobs in Israel that didn’t exist and evading $813,000 in taxes
A Romanian court has sentenced a former lawmaker to four years in prison for tax evasion and fraud that involved charging people to help them get jobs in Israel that didn't exist.
Nati Meir, a dual Romanian-Israeli citizen, was convicted on Tuesday of cheating more than 100 Romanians in the job scheme in 2000-2005, and of evading 600,000 euros ($813,000) in taxes. He has a right to appeal the sentence.
He was also ordered to pay 70,000 lei (about $2,340) in legal expenses.
Meir, whose parents lived in Romania before World War II, moved to the country from Israel for business.
He joined the nationalist party Greater Romania during an effort by its leadership to disprove claims that the party was anti-Semitic.
He also served as a mediator in the party's talks with Israeli strategic consultant Eyal Arad ahead of its election campaign.
Meir's prosecution began after he left parliament in 2008, and he was arrested in October.
Last year he briefly considered running for president.
In 2006 Meir was put on trial in Romania for corruption, and an Israeli court convicted him of a series of fraud charges. In their 2004 ruling, the Israeli judges said Meir "chose crime as a way of life".
