The Bucharest Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday against a procedural appeal lodged by the lawyers of Bulgarian businessman Stamen Stanchev, charged with industrial espionage.

The defence lawyers argued the case should be transferred to Romania's High Cassation Court, but the appeals court rejected the plea, as well as the appeal to allow Stanchev to leave the country.

Stanchev is charged with creating an industrial espionage network, whose goal was to obtain key documentation pertaining to the privatisation of strategic industrial assets in order to win consultancy contracts.

He was formerly employed by Credit Suisse First Boston Europe in London and Austrian Creditanstalt Investment Bank (CA IB) Corporate Finance Beratungs GmbH.

Stanchev, who is under house arrest in Bucharest, has repeatedly rejected the charges, claiming that the Romanian authorities were violating his civil rights by refusing to let him out of the country.

Romanian prosecutors charged Stanchev and Mihai Dorinel Mucea, the former deputy in the heavy industrial privatisation office, as well as Mihai Radu Donciu, who served as aide for privatisation to former telecoms minister Zsolt Nagy, in April.

The prosecutors have also indicted Nagy and former economy minister Codrut Seres on charges of aiding and abetting Stanchev's network.

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