Romania’s Paul Phillipe was spotted in a resort in Malta / France had refused his extradition / What’s next?

Romania’s Paul Phillipe was spotted in a tourist resort in Malta, following cooperation activities between the Romanian Police and the Police in Malta, judicial sources said on Sunday for News.ro and HotNews.ro. He was alone in the resort.

He is in front of the police, and specific procedures are to be carried out against him, including extradition procedures, judicial sources told HotNews.ro.

The information is also confirmed by G4media.ro and Digi 24.

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.

We remind you that, last November, 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 “.

On April 6, 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 authorities in our country, citing the illegal composition of the court panel from Romania.

“More precisely, the fact that one of the judges would not have taken the oath at the inauguration”, according to MJ. Although the case prosecutor from the French Public Prosecutor’s Office declared an appeal, he did not justify the appeal within the deadline and, therefore, he was denied the deadline, and the decision of the first instance remained final.

The Minister of Justice Alina Gorghiu declared, on Thursday, about the extradition of Prince Paul from Romania, from France, that she still has no answer from the French counterpart related to his situation, whose surrender was definitively rejected by the French justice due to a procedural flaw . “I expect the minister to be able to ask the system what happened in that case,” added Gorghiu.

On May 17, 2023, the Ministry of Justice presented a situation of persons wanted or prosecuted for the execution of sentences ordered by Romanian courts, as well as the countries where they are located and the stage of the procedures carried out to bring them to the country.

Thus, according to the situation presented by the representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Prince Paul is being prosecuted internationally based on a European arrest warrant issued by the Braşov Court of Appeal on 18.12.2020 for the execution of the sentence of 3 years and 4 months in prison for committing the crime of buying influence, complicity in abuse of office – damage: 9,523,769 euros.

Prince Paul Phillipe of Romania was located on the territory of France, the procedure being ongoing, the French authorities requested the sentence of conviction – merits and appeal – translated into French, conditions of detention and other information related to the conduct of the criminal process – after a short period in which he was detained in preventive detention by CA Paris, he was released on bail.

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 goods 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