Businessman Ioan Niculae Sentenced To Prison For Corruption Charges

Niculae, one of Romania’s wealthiest businessmen, was charged with influence peddling and instigating tax evasion and money laundering in the case.

In the same case, former Braila county council chairman Gheorghe Bunea Stancu was acquitted of all charges.

The court also ordered measures of confiscation and distraint from Niculae and several other defendants until the sum of RON24,806,831 is recovered, of which RON11.4 million is owed to national tax agency ANAF.

According to the case prosecutors, Interagro and another society specialized in agricultural products registered several commercial transactions between 2008 and 2009, based on “non-executed work”, with the other company supposed to produce promotional materials for Interagro within a EUR10 million contract.

The money was then externalized to an offshore company in the Virgin Islands, to avoid paying VAT and profit taxes.

The businessman was also charged with attempting to bribe a number of Romanian dignitaries to promote a government decree to subsidize chemical fertilizers, which would have directly benefited Interagro.