Romania questions ex-minister over 3 Picassos, 100 paintings

Romanian prosecutors investigating an alleged bribery scheme have questioned the former finance minister about the origins of 100 paintings, including three works by Pablo Picasso.
Prosecutors questioned Darius Valcov on Friday, saying the paintings had been hidden by four of his friends. The works have been sent to art experts for evaluation. Valcov, under house arrest since Thursday, declined to comment.
Among the paintings are works by Romanian painters Corneliu Baba and Nicolae Grigorescu as well as sketches by Picasso and works by Renoir and Andy Warhol, some of which had been purchased for him by an art dealer at two Bucharest auction houses, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Valcov was an art collector who wanted to conceal the origin of money dishonestly gained. He resigned March 15 after prosecutors charged him with taking USD 2.1 million in bribes when he was the mayor of a small town in exchange for awarding contracts to a local businessman.
Valcov hid a Renoir painting, three kilograms of gold and stashes of cash worth USD 410,000 in a friend's safe from 2011, prosecutors said this week. He was mayor of Slatina from 2004 to 2012.
Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Friday named Eugen Teodorovici, was previously the minister for European funds, as the new finance minister. He will be sworn in next week.

Romanian prosecutors have launched a series of high-level corruption investigations in the past year.