VIDEO The moment when Prince Paul was picked up from a resort in Malta / The decision taken on Monday by the court in Malta in the case of Paul Phillipe of Romania

Paul Phillipe of Romania was located in a resort in Malta following the information sent by the Romanian police, he was with his wife, and he did not resist at the time of capture, the head of the Romanian Police, Benone-Marian Matei, said on Monday . On Monday, a court in Malta decided to remand the self-styled Prince Paul until May 9.

The Minister of Justice, Alina Gorghiu, announced, on Monday afternoon, that the court in Malta decided today the preventive arrest of Paul de Romania, until May 9.

According to it, his request to be released on bail was rejected, a decision that can be appealed.

“As you know, he was sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison for committing the crimes of buying influence and complicity in abuse of office, in the Ferma Băneasa case. The Ministry of Justice will continue its efforts and make efforts for Prince Paul to serve his sentence in Romania, as it does with any fugitive from the Romanian state. (…)We will provide all the necessary documents and information for the court in Malta to accept the surrender of the fugitive”, wrote Gorghiu on Facebook.

Romanian Police, new data on the arrest of Paul de Romania

The Romanian authorities have been trying for over three years to bring to the country Paul Philippe of Romania, definitively sentenced, in December 2020, to three years and four months in prison in the case of the illegal retrocession of the Royal Farm from Băneasa. On Sunday, he was picked up from a luxury resort in Malta where he was on holiday.

The Iași newspaper published images of the moment when Paul Philippe was caught in a resort in Malta:

On Monday, the Romanian Police came up with new data about his capture.

“There was an exchange of information with the Malta Police. Following the information provided by the Romanian police, the person you mentioned was located in a resort. Later, he was detained and will be referred to the court in Malta. The Romanian Police located him and transmitted information in real time to his colleagues in Malta”, said the head of the Romanian Police, in a press conference.

According to him, at the time he was picked up by the Malta Police, Paul Phillipe from Romania was with his wife and did not resist.

He was detained by the Malta Police, and the court will decide if and when he will be brought to Romania.

The Secretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior, Bogdan Despescu, claimed, answering some questions, that the Police “achieved their objective” when they caught Paul Philippe of Romania: “The Romanian Police, as Mr. Inspector General said, provided data regarding the possible presence of the person in question in a resort. Let’s not enter the area of ​​specific activities, because it is about our work and our work, you know, is not easy, and every time there are colleagues who work 24 hours a day to reach the goal. This time, as when he was spotted in Paris, in France, the Police arrived at the objective, the person was caught. From here on, I think we should discuss less, because for us the main objective is to locate and be caught, after which the court will express its point of view.

France definitively rejected the extradition of Paul-Philippe from Romania

At the beginning of this month, the representatives of the Ministry of Justice sent, regarding the European arrest warrant in the name of Paul-Philippe de Romania, that the court in France definitively rejected his surrender to the Romanian authorities. The French authorities invoked the illegal composition of the court panel in Romania, more precisely, the fact that one of the judges would not have taken the oath upon being sworn into office. Although the case prosecutor from the French Public Prosecutor’s Office declared an appeal, he did not justify the appeal within the time limit and, therefore, was denied the time limit, and the decision of the first court remained final, explained the Ministry of Justice.

The Minister of Justice, Alina Gorghiu, said last week that she has no answer from her French counterpart regarding the situation of the extradition of Prince Paul from Romania, whose extradition was definitively rejected by the French judiciary due to a procedural flaw.

In November last year, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected the request of the Bucharest authorities to bring to Romania Paul Philippe of Romania (75 years old), who claimed that the extradition request was made “for political purposes”.

Paul’s escape from Romania

Paul de Romania was prosecuted in December 2020 after he fled Romania before being definitively sentenced by the Supreme Court to 3 years and 4 months in prison in the case of the illegal return of the Royal Farm in Băneasa. On June 27, 2022, he was caught on the street in Paris, and during the checks he presented a passport issued by the British authorities. In September, he was released from prison by a decision of the Paris Court of Appeal, being placed under judicial control.

On December 17, 2020, the High Court of Cassation and Justice pronounced the final sentence in the case of the illegal retrocession of the Royal Farm in Băneasa, and Prince Paul was sentenced to three years and four months in prison with execution. In the first instance, he received 3 years suspended. After the sentencing decision, the police went to the home of Paul al României, in the center of the Capital, to take him to the penitentiary, but they did not find him at home. Since then, he was wanted internationally and wanted by the Romanian Police.

The accusations from the Ferma Băneasa file

The accusations refer to crimes committed between 2006 and 2013, for obtaining assets of great value, including the Snagov Forest and the Băneasa Royal Farm, wrongfully claimed by Paul de Romania. The damage in this case exceeds 145 million euros, 135 million euros representing only the value of the lands of the former royal farm in Băneasa, and 10 million euros, the Fundu Sacului forest in Snagov.

On May 18, 2016, Remus Truică, Paul Philippe of Romania, Dan Andronic, as well as businessmen Tal Silberstein, Benyamin Steinmetz and Moshe Agavi were sent to court by the DNA in the case regarding the illegal retrocession of the Royal Băneasa Farm and the Snagov forest.

According to the DNA, Paul Philippe Al României bought the influence that Truică had over the various officials from the public institutions that owned the two properties. Truică presented the “business” of some financially powerful people, with whom he associated, in order to get involved in criminal proceedings, the only way to obtain the immovable property that Paul Philippe Al României claimed illegally.

Other people also joined this group, including Dan Andronic.

“The Romanian defendant Paul Philippe promised the defendant Truică Remus and his associates from the criminal group an important share, between 50% and 80%, of the value of the goods they claim in Romania, and later transferred the goods to them as they were obtained them, through fictitious sales-purchase contracts with Reciplia SRL. This, in order for them to intervene alongside civil servants involved in retrocession procedures, through the influence they have directly (…) and indirectly, through the relationships they have in the political world, in the judiciary, at the highest level and the press (friendship/business relations with members of the government, parliamentarians, civil servants, public authorities, with people with influence in the press, relations with the ÎCCJ, contracting the services of a top law firm), so that they, illegally, determined the unjust obtaining of the goods claimed by Al României Paul Philippe”, said the DNA.

Prince Paul, Remus Truică and the other members of the group later hid the illicit nature of the agreement, by concluding, on November 1, 2006, an assignment contract regarding the assets under administrative or judicial procedures for restitution of property. The contract was concluded between Prince Paul and SC Reciplia SRL, represented by Remus Truică.

“This contract stipulates that Al României Paul Philippe, as the transferor, transfers/assigns without any reservation, for consideration, all his present and future rights over some real estate, listed and identified in the contract (among which the Băneasa Farm with a land in an area of ​​28.63 ha and the Snagov Forest with forest land of about 30 ha). Reciplia SRL undertakes to pay, under certain conditions, a sum of money and to provide support and assistance in relation to the assets in administrative or judicial restitution procedures”, the prosecutors further claim.

Later, as a result of the cession contract, Prince Paul would have signed other documents and contracts, which sought to hide the illicit origin of some assets that were to be retroceded. It is, among others, the additional deed concluded on March 20, 2007, which concerned 12 real estates, including the Peleş Palace, the one of April 4, 2007, which concerned the real estates that make up the Balcic royal domain, the one of October 4, 2007, which concerned 11 real estate, agricultural and forestry land, as well as buildings in Sinaia and Bucharest.

After the acquisition of the Snagov Forest and Băneasa Farm assets, they were transferred by Prince Paul, through sales-purchase contracts, to Reciplia SRL, at much undervalued prices, disguising the illicit nature of the provenance, and the respective company sold on to other people , without collecting any amount of money.

According to the prosecutors, through the criminal activity carried out, the abusive retrocession of the Snagov Forest was succeeded, causing a damage to the Romanian state of 9,523,769 euros, as well as to the royal farm Băneasa, with a damage to the Romanian state of 135,874,800 euros. Both amounts, totaling 145,398,569 euros, also represent an undue benefit for Prince Paul, Remus Truica and his associates in the criminal group, DNA said.

Not recognized by the Royal House

His father, Carol Mircea Grigore, born in 1920 in Romania, was considered the illegitimate son of Carol II, king of Romania from 1930 until his abdication in 1940 in favor of his youngest son, Michael I.

In 1947, the royal family was expelled from Romania by the communists and its properties were confiscated.

Carol Mircea Grigore obtained the recognition of his filiation with Carol II in Portugal, where he lived, in 1955, then in France in 1963 and in Romania much later, in 2012.

Paul of Romania, who holds French, British and Romanian nationalities, returned to live in Romania in the 1990s. He was never recognized as a member of the royal family by King Michael.

According to him, he is being prosecuted for claiming his inheritance of properties, lands and master paintings.

At the same time, Paul of Romania launched legal proceedings in Paris to recover paintings, including two by El Greco, removed from Romania by King Michael I in 1947.

Read also: France refuses to extradite fugitive Paul de Romania, sentenced to prison in the Ferma Băneasa case and prosecuted for three years