Romanian Court Sentences Syrian Terrorism Convict Hayssam To 16 Yr Jail Term For Embezzlement

The Court of Bucharest sentenced Hayssam to 16 years in prison for fraud and criminal association, with EUR1.8 million in damage. Esse and Omar, who was also tried for forging customs documents, received 14 years in prison on the same counts.

The three were also ordered to pay damages of EUR480,760 to the Volvo Truck Company and EUR1,114,223 to SC Afin Leasing, and a warranty distraint was placed on their estates. They must also pay 10,000 lei (EUR1=RON4.1724) in legal fees to the Romanian state.

The sentence can be appealed.

According to prosecutors with Romania's Supreme Court, Hayssam, the then president of the Manhattan business group, formed a criminal group with Esse, Omar, Mohamad Munaf and Adnan Khdip.

Hayssam was charged with embezzling four companies, including Volvo, from which he leased 22 Volvo tractor heads, which he then exported to Syria and Egypt without paying the leasing companies.

In 2007, a Romanian court found Hayssam guilty of masterminding the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in 2005, and sentenced him in absentia to 20 years in prison.

Hayssam fled Romania in the first half of 2006, while under a terrorism inquiry for his role in the kidnapping. Bucharest's Court of Appeals issued an arrest warrant against him, and both national and international authorities are currently on the lookout for him.

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