Seizure of Salina Turda. A businessman, one step away from taking control of the tourist destination in Transylvania
Salina Turda. Photo: Dreamstime
An entrepreneur from Oradea, who made a fortune from bitcoin transactions, is very close to taking control of Salina Turda SA, the company that manages one of the most important tourist attractions in Transylvania, after Turda City Hall accumulated debts of over 9 million lei to him, according to Ziar de Cluj.
Salina Turda SA has Turda City Hall as its sole shareholder, and Horea entrepreneur Tudor Vușcan has more than 9 million lei to recover from the local administration. By bailiff, the town hall's shares in the tourist attraction were seized.
In the short term, the institution obtained in court the suspension of the foreclosure of the institution, by taking over the company that manages the salt pan, until the judgment on the merits of the appeal against the execution.
The deadline in this process was set for December 9, 2025.
How the request for forced execution of Salina Turda was reached
Horea Tudor Vușcan established, in 2013, the first bitcoin virtual currency trading platform in Romania.
Vușcan took over by assignment part of the sums owed by the Turda City Hall to the Public Transport Company SA Alba Iulia, which operated the public passenger transport service in the municipality of Cluj county between 2010 and 2019.
The legal differences between the two parties were settled through dozens of lawsuits, as a result of which the Turda City Hall was obliged to pay the Alba Iulia company over 30 million lei.
According to Ziar de Cluj, Turda City Hall now owes the businessman Horea Vușcan the sum of 9,089,467 lei, of which 7,812,367 lei represent the main debt and 1,047,614 lei penalties.
Foreclosure began in 2021, was suspended in 2022 and resumed in 2024.
Vușcan also aims to obtain the amount of 2.6 million lei, paid by Salina Turda to the local administration in the form of dividends related to the year 2023.
What Turda City Hall says about the seizure
The local authorities claim that the loss of control over the actions at Salina Turda would generate “serious, irreparable damage and with devastating consequences for the local community”.
“The forced execution of the 10,750 shares held at Salina Turda SA would generate serious, irreparable damage and with devastating consequences for the local community. These shares represent a strategic asset of major economic, cultural and touristic importance, and their forced sale, compliance with legal procedures, would seriously affect public interests and the functioning of the local administration,” Turda City Hall said.
“The court of first instance should have taken into account the devastating economic impact that the loss of control over Salina Turda SA would have on the municipality of Turda. The company is a pillar of the local economy,” the City Hall said.
Salina Turda SA had a profit of 7.9 million lei in 2024, on a turnover of 41 million lei. In 2023, the net profit was 7.4 million lei. 125 people work at the company that manages the city's main tourist attraction. Salina was visited in 2023 by 601,627 tourists, and in 2024 it had more than 700,000 visitors.
