Liviu Dragnea, the head of Romania’s ruling Social Democratic Party and regarded as the most powerful person in the country, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison following a corruption trial, The Guardian reports. Prosecutors said, from 2008 to 2010, Dragnea used his influence to keep two women on the payroll of a welfare agency, even though they were employed by his party and receiving salaries. Dragnea’s conviction may lead to new political tensions in Romania, where the ruling PSD has made preparations to impeach opposition-backed President Klaus Iohannis and to sack the head of the anticorruption agency, which has produced convictions of hundreds of public officials in recent years.