According to the decision taken on Monday, the panel of five judges of the Supreme Court have sentenced Becali to serve two years in prison for complicity to office abuse with serious consequences.
Gigi Becali was previously sentenced to 3 years imprisonment, wit suspension in the people sequestration file, with a eight years probation. The decision ruled is final.
After merging the two sentences, as the judges have pointed out, Gigi Becali is to serve the longest punishment, ie three years imprisonment. The Court ordered that the period between April 2 to April 17, 2009, when the businessman was arrested and taken into custody in the same case file be subtracted from the overall sentence to serve.
Babiuc and Cioflină will serve eight months top. Gigi Becali, will serve two years at the most
Gigi Becali, Victor Babiuc and Dumitru Cioflină were taken Monday night into police custody , where, after a general examination and formal proceedings, they will be taken to Rahova prison to serve the punishments ordered by the Supreme Court in the case of the land exchange.
‘Gigi is not here anymore, he has left for the Ilfov penitentiary. There is nobody inside, only the women and some relatives. I haven’t spoken to him, he came, he kissed the girls, proud, decent, dignified, he is complying with the decision ordered and that’s that. The important thing is what he has conveyed to his children, to his wife and relatives, to go to church every day. That’s what he has conveyed to his daughters, to his mother and to his wife’, Ion Becali stated.
Steaua gallery leader, Gheorghe Mustaţă, said Monday after the Supreme Court had sentenced the sponsor Gigi Becali to three years in prison, that the fans are with him and that he had canceled supporters party following the decision
The Court also ordered that Gigi Becali, Dumitru Cioflină and Victor Babiuc severally pay 421,280 dollars or its equivalent in lei, plus interest calculated from October 5, 1998 by the Romanian state.
Becali and Babiuc must also pay jointly, 448,378 dollars or its equivalent in lei, plus interest calculated since 1999 by the Romanian state.
However, the court ordered that the precautionary measures instated by the anticorruption prosecutors on the estates of the three defendants convicted be maintained and that each of them should pay 25,000, court costs
Monday's Supreme Court decision, which is final, was taken by majority vote.
The court put a levy on the homes of the three defendants.
The Independent Association of Steaua’s Supporters' (ISSA) welcomes the conviction of FC Steaua financier, Gigi Becali, who received a three-year sentence, in the case of land exchange with MND.
"Three years of freedom!", was the message posted on the AISS Twitter account.
Attorney Florin Şurghie, George Becali’s lawyer had a live phone intervention on Antenna 3 , speaking about his client.
"As long as the state does not hold an ownership title over the land concerned, the state could not be damaged," the lawyer said.
"Mr. Becali, objectively, could not have been sentenced even to such a small term," the lawyer added.
Florin Şurghie specified that he had conferred with his client. According to him, Becali would soon surrender.
The lawyer specified that he would submit a complaint with the ECHR.
We remind you that Becali was stopped by the border patrol on a private terminal, while trying to leave the country for Israel. Becali was questioned for hours by the prosecutors at the Office of the Supreme Court, but eventually he was allowed to leave, not before being informed that he was being investigated in a new case file.
The businessman argued he had no intention of fleeing the country because of the sentence in the MND land exchange file, but to pray to God.
According to the prosecutors, during 1996-1999, as administrator of the public property land in the Voluntari area ( the former Red Farm), MND made two land exchanges with Becali, the total area transferred to him being of 28.89 hectares of arable land. The land exchanged incurred the state budget a damage of 892 758 dollars.
The discussions in this process were completed Friday and a three-judge panel postponed the sentence by three days.
