The prosecutors of the Department for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) have announced yesterday that they are investigating a suspected fraud of 85 million Euros, which involves branch heads from several banks, including BRD and Volksbank. The defendants illegally obtained loans from the two banks, for 35 companies they control, according to the statement of the DIICOT. The crimes were aided by seven general managers and business officers, who coordinated the procedure for the selection of the companies, the risk verification and loan approval, even though the documents submitted by the companies did not meet the legal requirements, as well as by six employees of the banks in question, who handled the loan applications, the DIICOT said.

"The members of the faction were also helped by authorized evaluators, who drew up overvalued assessment reports on the real estate assets submitted as collateral", the document also states. 90 people will be taken to the headquarters of the DIICOT in the following days.

One of the people under investigation there is Lucian Cojocaru, vice-president of Volksbank, for his activity when he was a director at BRD, according to judicial sources.

The announcement comes shortly after in the beginning of November, the prosecutors of the DIICOT dismantled a criminal network which defrauded several banks. Claudiu Cercel, vice-president of BRD, is among those who are being investigated.

Managers of the BRD Unirea and Dorobanți branches, where the prosecutors of the DIICOT conducted searches yesterday, and officials of ATE Bank are under investigation. Dana Băjescu, the head of the Dorobanţi division, was heard yesterday, her lawyer said.

The officials of BRD said that the operations of the bank are not affected by the prosecutors' operation. "According to the provisions of the law, the bank