providing oversight to the activities of Serviciul Român de Informații (2004-2007). He drew attention for claiming boarding expenses of 832 million lei (some $26,000) in 2002, equal to at least 492 days at a hotel. Also that year, his name appeared on recordings of telephone conversations held by Sicilian Mafia bosses, who referred to him as being linked to their representative in Romania; Niță categorically denied having links to the Mafia and sued former President Emil Constantinescu for making the transcripts public. He was named to the Boc cabinet in December 2008, delegating his Brașov party duties to others. As minister, Niță predicted that nearly 40% of Romania's small and medium-sized businesses could go bankrupt due to the financial crisis; his priorities included unfreezing credits for them, simplifying their paperwork for obtaining European Union grants and devoting 0.4% of GDP to helping them and creating jobs there, and restructuring his ministry. Together with his PSD colleagues, Niță resigned from the cabinet on October 1, 2009, in protest at the dismissal of vice prime minister and Interior Minister Dan Nica. In April 2016, Niță's term as Brașov County PSD president expired and he opted not to run again. At the same time, he quit his posts within the national party and announced he would not seek another term in the Chamber at the autumn election. In May 2017, Niță was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for influence peddling. Notes External links Profile at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site Academic staff of the Transilvania University of Brașov Romanian economists Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) People from Iași County Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni 1955 births Living people