BUCHAREST (Dow Jones)--Romania's senate, the upper house of the country's parliament, tacitly cleared Monday a draft law filed by a far-right party, which annuls the sale of Romania's largest oil company Petrom (SNP.RO) to Austria's OMV AG (OMV.VI), news agency Mediafax reported Wednesday.
According to senate procedures, lawmakers had until Monday to debate and cast votes on the draft law. However, the deadline expired and the draft law was deemed tacitly approved.
The draft law also needs to be cleared by the parliament's other house, the chamber of deputies, to come into effect and annul Petrom's sale contract.
The largest vertically integrated oil company in Romania, Petrom, said Tuesday in a statement that its privatization was transparent and closely monitored by international institution before the Romanian government and parliament ultimately approved it.
"The privatization process was transparent and constantly monitored by international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other important European institutions," Petrom's spokesman Dan Pazara said, adding the privatization was later approved by the Romanian government and parliament.
Romania's senate set up a special commission last year to look into privatizations, when Romanian judicial authorities started investigating officials over allegations of commercial espionage.
Prosecutors allege two Romanian officials, along with a Bulgarian consultant and a U.S. investment banker, leaked confidential documents to foreign companies taking part in the privatization of Romanian state-owned companies, including Petrom.
Romanian President Traian Basescu had previously said Romania should review the deal because it gave away too much control over the country's national resources.
Petrom is the largest corporation in Romania and the largest gas and oil producer in Southeastern Europe.
In December 2004, Petrom was privatized and become part of OMV, which paid EUR1.6 billion for a 51% stake in the company.