Romanian Fraud Convict Nicolae Popa Close To Being Deported From Indonesia – Paper

The procedure is now pending approval from the Indonesia president.

„Now we just need to wait for [President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s] approval,” the paper quoted Brigade General Radja Erisman, the National Police chief detective for economic crimes, as saying.

Popa, convicted to 15 years in prison for defrauding more than 100,000 people in a massive Ponzi scheme, was arrested on December 2, 2009 by authorities in Jakarta, Indonesia.

A former manager of Romanian financial group Gelsor, Popa was sentenced to jail time along Ioana Maria Vlas in the case of the collapse of the fraudulent National Investment Fund (FNI). More than 100,000 people lost money they had invested in FNI, and the Romanian state, which had guaranteed their investments, was forced to pay out compensation of more than EUR100 million.

Indonesia does not have an extradition treaty with Romania. The 1979 Extradition Law states that the requesting country must make an official extradition request to the Justice Ministry through diplomatic channels, and if no extradition treaty exists between Indonesia and the requesting country, the president can decide on the matter.