Cost of doing business: Romania’s battery storage bribery case & the EPC caught in the middle

Prosecutors in Romania, last month [September 2026], arrested two individuals over an alleged bribe solicited from one of the largest EPC contractors in Romania in relation to one of the largest battery storage projects that is under construction in the country. What makes this situation all the more extraordinary is that these were not two lackeys trying their luck; one was the country head of the part state-owned company that owns the asset and the other, was the CEO of the EPC contractor. The fact – at least according to the prosecutors – that the founder of said EPC company turned his own CEO in only added to the performative gasps. Are these the actions of a man taking the noble path, albeit with the “level of pettiness that would make 50 Cent proud” (if you know, you know) or of someone unwillingly caught up in the middle of an unfortunate situation of someone else’s making. The market’s reaction to this ongoing case has been spectacularly varied but, anyone that dismisses the issue as an “Romanian problem” may want to take a closer look.