Frauds by overvaluation at RO property restitution body hit EUR 470 mln and counting

The volume of compensations to be recovered from beneficiaries who received either cash or Fondul Proprietatea shares in exchange for properties nationalized during the communist regime increased to EUR 470 million after the reevaluation of another 569 properties for which such compensations were granted in the past.

The compensations extended during 2009-2011 for the 569 properties exceeded by RON 552 mln (EUR 113 mln) their fair market value, the property restitution agency ANRP announced based on an independent valuation. Previously, the ANRP reevaluated another 190 properties and found a discrepancy of EUR 356 mln between the compensations paid and the real value, G4media.ro reported.

ANRP claims that, because of the different legal basis used at different times to compensate the owners of nationalized properties, it initiated court actions to recover only part of the money. It transferred the documents for recovering the rest to the Finance Ministry, which, in turn, claims it hasn't received all the necessary documents.

The mission of recovering the money is not straightforward. It is complicated in the case of Fondul Proprietatea shares that changed hands repeatedly, initially being sold well below the face value by the owners of the compensation rights.

In related news, Crinuta Dumitrean, the former head of ANRP, was sentenced this December to 75 months in jail in a case relevant for the frauds at the body she managed between 2009 and 2011. Alin Horatiu Dima, the evaluator who inflated the compensated properties' value, got the longest sentence - 116 months in jail. The court ruled the confiscation of EUR 7.72 million as well.

According to the prosecutors, the land subject to compensation in that particular case was overvalued by EUR 7.7 mln.

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