The Supreme Court of Romania sentenced the politician and Steaua Bucharest owner Gigi Becali to three years in prison in a case linked to a land exchange affair with the Ministry of National Defense (MND). The news dropped like a bomb on the landowner from Pipera.
Gigi Becali experiences a real-life nightmare after being convicted to 3-year jail term (libertatea.ro)
Sitting in the car on his way home, Becali was visibly affected and surprised by the court’s definitive decision. He was probably thinking at both the imprisonment period ahead and also his family who was heavily affected by the shocking news. His sister seems to have been mostly touched as she fainted when hearing that his beloved brother is gonna spend 3 years in a prison cell.
Dozens friends, relatives and acquaintances gathered at Becali’s residence to show him support during these tough moments of his life.
Now countless controversial reactions heated up the blogosphere with many folks praising the justice system while others claiming that Becali is a good man who should be free.
Gigi Becali (George Becali) is a controversial politician and one of the richest magnates of the country but known also as the owner of the Steaua Bucureşti football club. He was a Member of the European Parliament between June 2009 and December 2012 and a Member of the Romanian Parliament as of December 2012 up until his sentencing on Monday. He was convicted by the country’s Supreme Court to three years imprisonment in the case of property exchange with the Romanian Army. Former Minister of Defense Victor Babiuc and former Chief of Staff General Dumitru Cioflină were also sentenced and each of them must serve a two year prison term.
Becali’s land exchange case!
According to the prosecutors, during 1996-1999, The Ministry of National Defense (as legal administrator of the state’s public property in Voluntari, northern Bucharest) operated two illicit exchanges of land with Gigi Becali. The overall swapped area was 28.89 hectares of arable land and the “business” had the effect of prejudicing Romania of a total amount of 892.758 dollars.
Thanks to the suspicious deals with the Romanian Army, Becali received land plots that were worth much more than the land he gave up. As Bucharest saw a boost in the real estate prices, he sold the land to some corporations which built residential areas and in consequence he became a millionaire.
As for the Romanian Army, the exchange turned out to be a bad business as the plot received from Becali was located in Ştefăneştii de Jos (about 15 km from Bucharest) where the land was not valuable.
