The Baneasa case comes to an end

After being constantly in the headlines some years back, the fight against top-level corruption has lost some steam in recent years. Seen by many as the spearhead of this fight, the former head of the National Anticorruption Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi was removed from office by president Klaus Iohannis following pressure from the former Social Democrat-led government. She is now the chief of the newly created European Public Prosecutor's Office based in Brussels. The Country's Supreme Defence Council led by president Klaus Iohannis excluded corruption from its latest national security strategy as a possible threat to the state. Despite this, high-profile cases still find a resolution now and then, leading to sentences for big names from politics, the media and the business community.

One such case was the illegal return of the former royal farm in Baneasa and of the Snagov forest, both located near Bucharest, something that caused a loss to the state of over 140 million euros. An influential head of cabinet in the government of the Social Democrat Adrian Nastase, the businessman Remus Truica was handed down a final 7-year prison sentence by the High Court of Cassation and Justice. A direct descendant, albeit through a morganatic marriage, of Romania's former king Carol II, a man best known to the public as Prince Paul of Romania got three years and four months in prison, while the controversial journalist Dan Andronic was given a 3-year suspended sentence and 60 days of community service. Apostol Musat, the former mayor of Snagov and Nicolae Jecu, the former prefect of Ilfov county, received 4 years in prison.

Truica, the star of this heterogeneous group, was charged by the National Anticorruption Directorate for creating an organised crime group, peddling in influence, money laundering, complicity to abuse of office and bribe giving. Prince Paul was charged with buying influence and money laundering in aggravated form. According to magistrates, these crimes were committed between 2006 and 2013 with the aim of obtaining goods of great value, which Prince Paul claimed but to which he had no right. The court also ruled to confiscate various properties in Snagov from Truica and over 5 million euros from Prince Paul. Moreover, the defendants must together pay the forest authority Romsilva more than 1 million euros in damages. The High Court also ruled that the land with a surface area of over 170,000 square metres will be returned to the public domain. (CM)