by Petre Roman, Băsescu joined the PD faction. In 1992, he was elected to the lower house of the Romanian Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, then re-elected for the 1996–2000 term. Concurrently with his second term in Parliament, from November 1996 to June 2000, Băsescu also served as Minister of Transport in the center-right governments of Victor Ciorbea, Radu Vasile, and Mugur Isărescu. In December 1997, he gave an interview to Claudiu Săftoiu of the newspaper Evenimentul Zilei, in which he accused Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea of not implementing enough reforms, although Ciorbea was accused by the Socialist opposition of being excessively reformist. This became the first episode in an open dispute within the ruling center-right coalition, a dispute that eventually led to Democratic Party ministers, including Băsescu, resigning from the cabinet, which, in turn, led to Ciorbea's resignation. Subsequently, in 1998, Băsescu resumed his previous ministerial position in the new cabinet headed by Radu Vasile. During his tenure as Minister of Transportation, Băsescu oversaw the privatization of Romania's merchant fleet. While some argued that the aging ships at the time were of minimal value, many Romanians believed the compensation received for the ships was artificially low. The "scandal" of the fleet sale became known in Romania as The Fleet File (Dosarul Flota) Affair. Prosecutors brought charges against Băsescu, but it was not proven that he was involved in any malfeasance. In 1996, Băsescu was the first Romanian parliamentarian to renounce his parliamentary immunity, in order to allow judicial procedures related to the Fleet File Affair to continue against him. (Romanian MPs were, by default, granted immunity from prosecution of any kind.) Although the case against him was closed at the time for lack of evidence, it was reopened in early 2004, in what some considered a political maneuver against him sponsored by the then PSD government. In 2004, the case was brought before the High Court of Cassation and Justice, however, the judges decided to send it back to the Prosecutor's Office citing procedural errors (the signature of a prosecutor was missing). In December 2007, the Romanian National Anti-corruption Directorate (Direcția Națională Anticorupție), a subdivision of the General Prosecutor Office, decided to end the investigation, based on the opinion of financial expertise that there was no prejudicial dealing by the Romanian association NM Petromin SA Constanța with the Norwegian Torvald Klaveness Group between April 1991 and August 2000. However,