London court decides that businessman Puiu Popoviciu should be handed over to Romanian authorities

A London court has ruled that businessman Puiu Popoviciu should be handed over to Romania.

It is a decision in first court. The businessman has seven days to file the appeal.

From this point of view, the Romanian authorities are not optimistic about how this appeal will be judged. In a similar case, of Alexander Adamescu, a court in London decided he should be handed over to Romania, but Adamescu’s appeal has not yet been judged, antena3.ro informs.

Businessman Puiu Popoviciu was sentenced to 7 years in jail in ‘Baneasa Farm’ file. He was sentenced on August 2, 2017, 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 offenses 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.

On August 17, 2017, the Bucharest Court of Appeals sent to the British judicial authorities the European arrest warrant on Puiu Popoviciu’s name.

Businessman Puiu Popoviciu was detained by London Metropolitan Police. He was released on bail for GBP 200,000. The businessman had to come to the police precinct three times a week and to wear a surveillance bracelet.

In October 2018, the British courts set the trial dates for the extradition of Puiu Popoviciu, Alexander Adamescu and of interloper Florin Ghinea aka ‘Ghenosu’.