October 12, 2017 - 2:28 PM
BUCHAREST, Romania - Romania's prime minister says two ministers named in a land transfer criminal inquiry have resigned after weeks of tensions within the government's ruling party.
Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said late Thursday he had accepted the resignations of Deputy Prime Minister Sevil Shhaideh and Rovana Plumb, minister for European funds, following a six-hour meeting of the Social Democratic Party.
Both ministers are aides of party chairman Liviu Dragnea, who is ineligible to be prime minister due to a 2016 vote-rigging conviction. Dragnea backed the ministers, but Tudose threatened to quit if they did not resign.
Shhaideh and Plumb are suspected of transferring land near the River Danube to a local council that was then illegally leased to a private company. They have denied wrongdoing.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017