Orest Onofrei (born 17 March 1957 in Marginea, Suceava County, Romania) is a Romanian veterinarian and politician. A member of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), he represented Suceava County in the Chamber of Deputies from December 2004 to February 2005, and has been a Senator for the same county since December 2008.
Political career
In January 2005, he was named prefect of Suceava County."Guvernul a numit prefectii", 8 January 2005, Evenimentul Zilei In April 2008, he was dismissed from his job of prefect and named subprefect of the same county. Meanwhile, in November 2004 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), serving until his resignation early the following year. Profile at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site In August 2008, he resigned and decided to run in the 2008 election on a PDL ticket,"Subprefectul de Suceava, Orest Onofrei, a demisionat şi candidează din partea PD-L pentru Senat", Cotidianul, 28 August 2008 winning a Senate seat in a Suceava County district."Noii parlamentari", Evenimentul Zilei, 2 December 2008
He was nominated in 2009 to be part of the second Emil Boc Cabinet, but soon after, he resigned from this office after the press began revealing information about a car accident in which he was involved. Onofrei explained his decision by saying he did not want to put the President or the Prime Minister in a difficult situation.
Car accident
In June 2002, while driving above the legal speed limit through Cleja village, Bacău County, he hit and killed an 8-year-old child, Paul Hădărag. In 2006, he was sentenced to a suspended prison term of one year."Primul prefect al Aliantei, condamnat la inchisoare", Cotidianul, 23 February 2006"Prefectul, un an de inchisoare cu suspendare", Evenimentul Zilei, 23 February 2006 He appealed and the sentence was overturned in 2007."EXCLUSIV: Orest Onofrei, desemnat pentru portofoliul Agriculturii, vrea să renunţe la funcţie", Mediafax, 19 December 2009
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