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After denying that he was on a luxury private plane to Nice paid for by Nordis, PM Ciolacu backtracked, saying that he went but paid for it with his own money. G4Media journalists Dan Tăpălagă and Sorin Semeniuc, however, provided indisputable evidence that four PSD politicians, led by party president Marcel Ciolacu, flew on a plane paid for by the real estate company Nordis, on May 30, 2022, on the Nice – Bucharest route.
“Let’s ask ANI (the National Integrity Agency) for an audit, to do this analysis on my assets,” was one of Marcel Ciolacu’s first reactions to G4Media’s disclosures.
The PSD leader explained, on Pro TV, that he had “never” traveled in his private life with “any plane or on a trip or on a vacation paid for by someone else” and added that he has all the documents that will attest to this and that at that time he was not prime minister. Prior to the publication of the document, Ciolacu denied any flight with a private aircraft rented by Nordis.
“First of all, it is not a private jet of Nordis, rented. It is not rented by Nordis, because I have not seen such a document before. If I was in a private jet, I was on my own money, personally, I was with my son and on trips with WizzAir, I also had my gifts given to my son. I have never, ever, in my private life gone on any plane or on a trip or on a vacation paid for by someone else. I have all the documents that will attest to this. Secondly, at that time I was not prime minister. I, like everyone else, also have a private life (…) we are not a family that indulges in excesses. We are talking about the context, the electoral campaign”, Marcel Ciolacu told Stirile Pro TV on Monday
G4Media.ro exclusively published yesterday a flight document (known in the aviation industry as a “gendec”) from which it is unequivocal that PSD leaders Marcel Ciolacu, Sorin Grindeanu, Alfred Simonis and Laura Vicol flew in 2022 on a private jet rented from Țiriac Air by the Nordis company, which entered insolvency at the beginning of October.
Although they all denied ever flying on a private jet rented from Nordis, they all appear together with their children in the so-called “general declaration” (gendec) of the flight on May 30, 2022 on the Nice – Bucharest route, from where the PSD leaders together with their children were returning from the Formula 1 Grand Prix of the Principality of Monaco.
G4Media.ro documented a total of 5 round-trip flights to Nice between March and October 2022, but not all of them involved PSD leaders. The costs for the five flights amount to tens of thousands of euros each (around 30,000). The amounts almost double if the plane makes a stopover or performs other flights. G4Media.ro conducted part of the documentation in France (Nice, Monaco) at the beginning of September, with the help of a team of French journalists.
Aviation specialists told G4Media.ro that the document in question is known in the industry as a “gendec”, an official confirmation of all passengers who actually board the plane, including the crew. In other words, the names of Ciolacu, Grindeanu or Simonis could not appear in the flight document if they were not already on board the plane. The document must accompany any private flight.![]()
G4Media.ro has removed personal data from the document, except for the date of birth in the case of public figures who already have this information on their CVs.
In several of the five round-trip flights, only the name of the Laura Vicol – Vladimir Ciorbă family appears. Ciorba was one of the Nordis developers. In others, PSD leaders Marcel Ciolacu, Sorin Grindeanu or Alfred Simonis appear, along with other people from their entourage, such as Sorina Docuz or Monica Hunyadi, appointed by Minister Grindeanu in February 2022 as provisional administrator of the CFR Electrification Company.
The PSD leaders denied that they had flown on the private jet paid for by Nordis. Marcel Ciolacu and Alfred Simonis explicitly stated to G4Media.ro that they had never been on the private jet rented by Nordis. Grindeanu simply said that it was false information and that he had always respected the law.
So,
According to G4media, at the end of May 2022, a Țiriac Air flight chartered by Nordis to Nice transported PSD leaders Marcel Ciolacu, Sorin Grindeanu and Laura Vicol, along with their children, to see the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco. Afred Simonis, then a PSD deputy, was also on the same plane.
Another passenger on the list is George Ivan (36 years old). Ivan was an associate at Nordis Hotel and Nordis Management, two companies within the Nordis Group. In 2014, ANAF filed a criminal complaint for tax evasion against him and Răzvan Vladimir Ciorba. The criminal case was closed in 2020. Over time, the two, as well as their parents, were associated in several commercial companies.
The May flight, first revealed last Thursday by G4Media.ro, was confirmed by the specialized publication Boarding Pass, which wrote on Facebook that a private plane flew on the Bucharest-Nice-Bucharest route between May 27 and 30, 2022. Țiriac Air flight with identification number TIH4C departed Bucharest on May 27, 2022 at 3:12 PM and landed in Nice (France) at 5:15 PM. It returned to Romania on May 30 (departure from Nice at 6:30 AM, landing in Bucharest at 8:16 AM).
Nice (France) airport was used because Monaco does not have an airport.
PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu admitted in a statement to G4Media.ro on November 14 that he flew to Nice with his son to see the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco, but claims that he flew there and back on a scheduled flight. This statement is refuted by the document published by G4Media.ro, which clearly shows that he flew on the Țiriac Air private jet rented by Nordis. Furthermore, Ciolacu stated that he never attended a private event with Laura Vicol. The day before, Ciolacu had categorically denied that he had been to Nice in 2022. At the time, Marcel Ciolacu was the president of the Chamber of Deputies.
The law does not prevent them from traveling in their free time on private jets, but these expenses are expensive and should appear in their tax returns. The law requires that any “gifts, services or advantages” received from individuals or companies whose value exceeds 500 euros must be declared. None of the PSD leaders mentioned private jet flights in their 2023 tax returns, relating to the 2022 fiscal year.
Ciuca, PNL, to summon parliamentary inquiry committee on Nordis
The President of the Senate, Nicolae Ciucă, will request, on Tuesday, the convening of the Permanent Bureaus to establish a parliamentary investigation committee in the Nordis case. The PNL leader, who described this case as a “classic fraud”, had a meeting with representatives of the victims of the Nordis affair.
“From my point of view, it is a classic case of fraud and I believe that the initiative I initiated to establish a parliamentary inquiry committee should be put into effect as soon as possible and provide the opportunity for these people, we are talking about Romanians from the country, Romanians from the diaspora, I understand that there are also foreign citizens who signed contracts with Nordis, to be able to provide details about what happened there. We are talking about public authorities that should have done their duty and responded in a timely manner to all requests made by citizens. I appreciate that this afternoon I will also request the Chamber of Deputies to convene the Permanent Bureaus convened to establish the committee. It is important, firstly, to resolve this case, secondly, to be an example so that citizens do not fall into such traps and, thirdly, and most importantly, to urgently amend the legislation to no longer allow such fraud schemes”, said Ciucă.
According to him, all victims who do not register with the credit table by November 21 will lose the chance to recover their money.
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