Gabriel (Puiu) Popoviciu, who was wrongly accused in the case surrounding the Băneasa development, has been fully acquitted by Bucharest’s Court of Appeal, along with the other ten defendants in the case. In a 172-page judgment, Judge Liana Arsenie, the head of the Court of Appeal, delivered a devastating assessment of prosecutor Nicolae Marin (of Romania’s National Anti-Corruption Directorate, known as the DNA) and his persecution of Popoviciu.
Judge Liana Arsenie ordered the acquittal of all 11 defendants on the grounds that that the alleged offences do not exist. She set out how prosecutor Nicolae Marin had operated, stating: “The investigating authority assigned fictitious roles and functions and imagined authority relationships. The prosecution was built on a scenario imagined by the prosecutor.” She highlighted “truncated interpretations, the breaking of logical-legal algorithms and the attribution of criminal connotation to the exercise of civil rights and obligations.”
Popoviciu and his ten fellow defendants had been accused by Nicolae Marin of abuse of office, bribery and favouring the offender in connection with SC Băneasa Investments SA’s project on a 224-hectare plot of land where the largest shopping, office and residential complex in Romania was built. The July 2024 verdict from Bucharest’s Court of Appeal found that these allegations, involving an alleged gift of a bottle of whiskey and a PET bottle of homemade plum brandy, plus the offer of a position for the witness Motoc Ion (who later confirmed he never received such an offer) were completely fabricated by prosecutor Nicolae Marin. The July 2024 acquittal comes as a result of the review and retrial of the case and firmly concludes that the defendants were convicted abusively.
This recent judgment from the Court of Appeal in Romania comes one year after the UK’s Supreme Court discharged Romania’s extradition request for him. The Suprme Court had the final word on the extradition and was in full agreement with the 11 June 2021 decision by London’s High Court to refuse Popoviciu’s extradition to Romania, because, as stated by British judge Lord Justice Holroyde, “The evidence shows a real risk that the appellant suffered an extreme example of a lack of judicial impartiality, such that there can be no question as to consequences for the fairness of the trial.” Edward Fitzgerald KC said that Popoviciu would suffer a “flagrant denial of justice” if sent back to serve his sentence in Romania.
A human rights expert specialising in South-East Europe explained: “This trumped-up case not only endangered the Băneasa commercial, residential and real estate development, which has brought 1.5bn Euros in taxes and related contributions to the Romanian state budget. In addition, what went on at the prosecutor’s office back then was not legal and greatly undermined Romania’s standing in terms of the rule of law and respect for human rights. We have some optimism that the situation is improving in the country and that such a persecution would not be allowed to happen again.”
A close friend of Popoviciu said: “This has been an eighteen year ordeal for Puiu and his family. This saga started on with the first false accusation on 14 June 2006 and ended only now with this sane and robust final decision by the Bucharest Court of Appeal in July 2024. Puiu is an honourable man and has handled the whole affair with dignity, but we really cannot overstate the injustice suffered by him and his family. To his credit, he still has a great love for his home country of Romania and no doubt will continue his efforts to boost its development.”
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