Update – Baneasa Farm file: Businessman Puiu Popoviciu – detained by London Metropolitan Police, released on bail

Businessman Puiu Popoviciu has been detained on Monday by London Metropolitan Police, informs Romanian General Police Inspectorate (IGPR) informs.

He was released on bail later in the day, sources quoted by digi24.ro say, adding that the bail amounted to GBP 200,000. The same sources say the businessman has to come to the police precinct three times a week and to wear a surveillance bracelet.

The exchange of data and information took place through CCPI – the SIRENE Bureau. According to the quoted source, the legal procedure is currently underway in such situations.

The Romanian police informed the Bucharest Court of Appeal and the Ministry of Justice, institutions competent to deal with the extradition of the person concerned.

According to judicial sources quoted by Romanian media, Romanian authorities have obtained information about the place where Puiu Popoviciu was and have delivered it to the London Police. In its turn, London Police have contacted the businessman’s lawyer and consequently Popoviciu turned up at the police precinct along with his lawyer.

Justice Minister Tudorel Toader has said on Monday, according to digi24.ro, after hearing the news: “When we’ll have the entire documentation, we will start the legal procedures to bring back home Puiu Popoviciu. (…) The deadline starts when the Justice Minister will have the documentation.”

On businessman Gabriel Puiu Popoviciu’s name was issued an international warrant after the Bucharest Court of Appeal issued a European arrest warrant on his name, at the request of the Police, as he left the territory of Romania at the beginning of June.

Popoviciu was recently sentenced in Băneasa file.

Businessman Puiu Popoviciu, sentenced to 7 years in jail, was not found at his domicile by police early this month. A national warrant was issued on August 3. Police sources claimed that Popoviciu has allegedly fled the country in June.

Popoviciu was not banned to leave the country until the sentence this month. Police sources say his last declared domicile was in Monaco.

Businessman Puiu Popoviciu was sentenced on August 2, by the High Court for Cassation and Justice (ICCJ – Supreme Court) to 7 years in jail, in the file in which he is accused of corruption deeds regarding the association between his company, SC Baneasa Investments SA and the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest (USAMV), for a plot of land of 224 hectares. The ruling is final.

Popoviciu was sentenced in the first court to 9 years in jail in the same file. The former USAMV Rector Ioan Niculae Alecu was sentenced to six years in jail for abuse of office.

Last week, news surfaced that Puiu Popoviciu has hired former FBI Director Louis Freeh as lawyer, who states in a communiqué that he is ‘deeply disappointed’ by the verdict of the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Romania to sentence the businessman to 7 years in jail, as ‘the sentence and conviction are not supported by either the facts or the law.’

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arrest warrantbaneasa fileCourt of Appealcupreme courtdetainedfbi directorHigh Court for Cassation and JusticeICCJinistry of justiceIoan Niculae AlecuJustice ministerlawyerlondon metropolitan policelouis freehMonacoPuiu Popoviciuremandromanian policesentencesirene bureauTudorel ToaderUSAMV Rector
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