Aurel Saramet, the now suspended director of the National Fund Guaranteeing Loans for Small and Medium Enterprises, will be investigated at large, authorities decided.
Prosecutors will call for the preventive one-month arrest of the 33 suspects they detained.
On Thursday, prosecutors searched the homes of 50 suspects and the headquarters of several firms in Bucharest, Ilfov, Calarasi and Giurgiu. The defendants are accused of having illegally obtained financing for equipment acquisition projects, through several firms controlled by the leaders of the organized crime group, allegedly led by Daniel Ruse. The group used false documents to obtain loans from 16 Romanian bank units and embezzled EUR22 million, prosecutors said.