Romanian businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vintu and his employee, Ion Ilie Cezar, accused of blackmailing the manager of TV station Realitatea Media, Sebastian Ghita, will be placed under 29-day preventive arrest, the Bucharest Court ruled Friday.
The ruling is final.
A lower court ruled last week the two were to be investigated at large.
Vintu and Cezar had been detained for 24 hours on April 20.
Prosecutors said in a press release that, according to the evidence so far, in March-April 2011, Vintu demanded EUR150,000 from Ghita, who “would stand to lose significant amounts of money” should he refuse. Ghita filed a complaint accusing Vintu of threats and blackmail.
Vintu owns Realitatea-Catavencu, a group of media companies which includes Realitatea Media. Ghita owns the Asesoft IT group, which in October last year took over the management of Realitatea Media.