Credit Suisse has been asked to step down from the controversial flotation mandate for Romtelecom, the Romanian telecoms company, after one of its investment bankers advising on the sale was arrested on charges of industrial espionage.

Romanian communication minister Zsolt Nagy today sent a letter to Credit Suisse asking for the contract between the bank and the government to be cancelled "by mutual accord" in order to avoid the flotation being hampered by reputational fallout from the arrests.