BUCHAREST, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Romanian President Traian Basescu on Monday suspended Labor Minister Paul Pacuraru by signing a decree.

    Paul Pacuraru was officially charged with bribery on Friday, and the minister went to the National Anticorruption Department to hear the charges brought against him.

    The criminal investigation aims to collect the evidence necessary to prove the existence of a crime, to point to perpetrators and to set responsibility for each perpetrator, in order to find if a trial would be adequate.

    As criminal investigations have been initiated against Pacuraru, the Constitution grants Romanian head of state the right to suspend the minister.

    Pacuraru was allegedly recorded while asking Gorj county liberal leader Ilie Morega to step in and ask several local companies to grant contracts to his son's company.