Ioan Bendei died »Former RCS & RDS administrator was involved in the TV Rights File in Liga 1, along with Dumitru Dragomir
Article by Remus Dinu – published on Thursday, July 24, 2025, 21:54 / Updated Thursday, July 24, 2025 21:58
Ioan Bendei, the former administrator and shareholder of RCS & RDS, has ceased life, according to an announcement made by the Digi Romania group. Bendei was for a long time the hopeful man of the billionaire Zoltan Teszari, the holder of the holding.
Figure known in the electronic communications industry in Romania, Bendei held the position of vice -president of the Board of Directors of RCS & RDS, being the administrator of several companies in the group.
“With deep sadness we announce the termination of Mr. Ioan Bendei. The Digi group expresses its deep regret with the loss of Mr. Ioan Bendei, an important personality of the electronic communications industry in Romania and a man who played a significant role in the development and consolidation of our company,” Digi has notified.
Ioan Bendei was a technician at the Roman Brașov plant before working in communications companies.
Bendei's name was also involved in a case of corruption. DNA prosecutors have been investigated over the last few years An alleged 3.5 million euro bribe offered by Ioan Bendei, RCS representative, Dumitru Dragomir, following the LPF-Digi partnership for TV rights for 2011-2014.
Ioan Bendei ceased life / photo source: Digi
Ioan Bendei, involved in a criminal case for bribery
According to prosecutors, between April 2009 – May 2011, Dumitru Dragomir would have claimed the amount of 3.5 million euros from Ioan Bendeiadministrator and shareholder of RCS/RDS, of which it would have received 3.1 million euros. In carrying out the contract between LPF and RCS, the company secretly funded one of Dragomir's personal affairs, Crystal Palace Ballrooms
The investigators took into account an advertising contract concluded in 2009 between RCS and Dragomir's event salon, “Crystal Palace”, suspected of actually covers a bribe from the cable company to obtain the TV rights with the support of the LPF.
On January 15, 2019, Dumitru Dragomir and Ioan Bendei were sentenced to 4 years in prison in the RCS/RDS file. The decision was appealed to the Court of Appeal, which decided to re -judge the trial in November 2021, on the grounds that the trial had to be judged by the Bucharest Court because the son of Dumitru Dragomir, also charged, but paid, is a lawyer, and only the Court of Appeal can judge such a case.
At this moment, the process in which Bendea and Dragomir were involved in the end, after the facts were prescribed. According to Freedom, the Bucharest Court of Appeal is about to order the cessation of the criminal trial, after both lawyers and the sitting prosecutor have requested this on the grounds of prescribing the facts.
In total, no less than ten people were charged in the TV rights file during 2008-2011.
