Romania issues arrest warrant for fugitive Israeli ‘spy’

A Romanian court on Thursday issued an international arrest warrant in absentia for an Israeli man wanted by authorities on suspicions of espionage, according to local media reports.

State prosecutors say that Yossi Barkshtein fled the country in April, shortly after his two colleagues Ron Weiner and David Geclowicz were arrested for allegedly attempting to intimidate chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codutra Kovesi and hacking her emails.

All three were employees of Black Cube, a private Israeli intelligence firm that, according to judicial sources, was hired by Romanian clients being investigated by Kovesi to attack the prosecutor in an effort to have the case against them dropped.

Weiner and Geclowicz are currently under house arrest in Bucharest. It was not clear from reports when the pair were next due to appear in court.

Black Cube earlier this year confirmed to The Times of Israel that Weiner and Geclowicz had been arrested, but denied wrongdoing by its employees. In a statement, the firm said its activities in Romania were all in compliance with local authorities, and it would “continue to act with its full force” to have the employees released.

Anti-corruption investigators claim that Weiner was in charge of the operation that targeted Kovesi, while Geclowicz was tasked with contacting people close to her as a form of intimidation, the Romanian news site Digi 24 reported earlier this year.

According to the organized crime prosecutors’ office, the suspected activity took place in March, but it didn’t say why the Israeli suspects would have sought to intimidate the prosecutor. Kovesi confirmed that there had been “an unsuccessful attempt” to intimidate her but did not elaborate.

The arrest warrant issued for Geclowitz and Weiner in March said they set up a “criminal group… aimed at sullying Kovesi’s image.”

The Israelis are suspected of harassing three people close to her, making “numerous threatening telephone calls and hacking into emails… hoping to uncover possible acts of corruption.”

Geclowitz and Weiner are also thought to have hacked into the emails of Kovesi’s friends and relatives.

Though the investigation into who may have hired Black Cube to attack Kovesi is ongoing, judicial sources have said the Israeli company was employed by a Romanian client being investigated by the anti-corruption agency.

Romanian media sources have reported that two local media moguls were behind the attacks and had reached out to Black Cube to intimidate Kovesi.

Black Cube utilizes experts “highly experienced and trained in Israel’s elite military and governmental intelligence units,” according to the company’s website.

Kovesi, known for her tough approach to high-level corruption, was appointed last month for a second term as Romania’s chief anti-graft prosecutor. Having held the position since 2013, she was given a three-year extension to her mandate on the day of the arrests.

In 2015, her agency prosecuted 1,250 cases, with targets including a former prime minister and five former ministers.

Raoul Wootliff contributed to this report.