Nelu Iordache will be released from prison. The Bucharest Court of Appeal reduced his sentence by half because some of the facts were time-barred
Nelu Iordache, Photo: Agerpres
The Bucharest Court of Appeal admitted an annulment appeal filed by businessman Nelu Iordache and reduced his sentence in the case of fraud with European funds allocated for the construction of the Nădlac-Arad highway from 11 years and 9 months to 5 years and 10 months in prison, after the court found that some of the facts were time-barred.
- Digi24 announces that, following this court decision, which is final, Nelu Iordache will be released from prison today.
Nelu Iordache, administrator of SC Romstrade SRL, was convicted in this case, in September 2021, for several crimes, to which was added another 6-year sentence received in the Transalpina case, reports Agerpres.
He submitted an appeal for annulment, admitted by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, which established that the statute of limitations has expired for some of the crimes, namely embezzlement and embezzlement.
The judges held that the statute of limitations did not apply in the case of two other crimes: forgery in documents under private signature (4 years and 6 months in prison) and fraud with particularly serious consequences (2 years in prison), as well as in the case of a 2-year sentence imposed by the Giurgiu Court.
The merger resulted in a final sentence of 5 years and 10 months, from which the time spent in prison will be deducted, namely from September 8, 2021 to the present.
He also escaped a 12-year prison sentence also by prescribing the facts
It should be mentioned that Nelu Iordache escaped a sentence of 12 years and 6 months in prison received at the trial court in the case of the embezzlement of the air transport company Blue Air, also by prescribing the facts, as well as another case of tax evasion, which referred to fictitious purchases of construction materials on behalf of the Romstrade company.
Nelu Iordache was sent to court by the DNA in April 2013, being accused of having changed, without complying with the legal provisions, the destination of over 31.5 million lei, representing part of the advance received from CNADNR for the design and execution of the works on the first section of the Nădlac-Arad highway (approximately 22.3 km), the work being financed in proportion to 85% of the cohesion fund of the EU.
Romstrade SRL was the leader of the Association Romstrade SRL – Monteadriano Engenharia E Construcao SA – SC Donrep Construct SRL, which concluded the contract with CNADNR. The amount of 31,519,960 lei collected from CNADNR SA was actually used to pay outstanding debts of Romstrade SRL, to support the companies in the group of companies that Nelu Iordache controlled directly or through intermediaries, as well as for personal purposes, after withdrawing some cash amounts.
Concretely, the money was used to pay debts worth over 9.7 million lei of companies in which Iordache was directly interested, including an air transport company, payments made on the basis of contracts unrelated to the performance of the highway contract. In this sense, he led some employees of Romstrade to falsify several invoices issued by suppliers, so that it appeared that the payments were related to the works on the Nădlac-Arad highway.
Also, the cash withdrawal of almost 9.9 million lei was found with the declared purpose of land acquisition, based on fictitious pre-sale-purchase contracts in the name of Romstrade.
