The first reaction of RAAPPS regarding the scandal of Eximbank headquarters who made Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan to say “the feeling is great”

The building in Bucharest where Eximbank operates is in the administration of RAAPPS based on a lease concluded in 1996, which was successively extended for 30 years by the Government Secretariat, the Autonomous Administration of the State Protocol (RAAPPS) administration in a press release.

The case was made public last Friday, in a press conference, by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan who stated that a building owned by RAAPPS was rented to a private one who later rented a bank on a double price. The prime minister said he did not talk to the director of RA-APPS, but spoke to that of the bank, who asked if he asked the problem of this and why he did not ask the director to pay for his headquarters directly, instead of doing it through a higher price, stating that “the sensation is high in many places”.

The institution that manages the heritage buildings said on Thursday that the respective contract was carried out under economic efficiency conditions, the rates being established on the basis of the reports prepared by authorized evaluators and there was no other rental request. In addition, “the contract for not the subject of any dispute or suspicion of corruption that can be put in charge of its management or governing bodies.”

“It is important to mention that, until this date, there was no request from other entities interested in renting this building, and the administrative procedures were carried out in full legality, portivit to the controls carried out by the authorized bodies during the period of the contract,” the press release states.

The Eximbank case

Exim Banca Românească moved to the Kiseleff Palace in 2013. Until then, it was operating in the building where the Financial Supervisory Authority is now on the Splaiul Independence.

The decision came for reasons to “optimize work flows” and “reduction of operational costs”, announced Traian Halalai, the head of the bank, in a press release.

EXIM Banca Românească pays around 120,000 euros per month rent to the private company Spurmina Corporation (formerly Kisef Property), according to G4media. Double compared to how much the company pays to RA-APPS.

The director Exim Banca Românească is Traian Halalai (54 years). He was Deputy General Manager of the Romanian Bank, then Executive President of Eximbank, before he merged with the Romanian Bank. From January 2023, he is the president of Exim Banca Românească.

During the weekend, shortly after Prime Minister Bolojan reproached him for the contract by which EXIM Banca Româneca sub-tailed the Kiseleff Palace from a private, although the building belongs to the state, Halalai was filmed in a Saint-Tropez club, according to the images in the Snoop.