Fire in Bucharest’s Old Town uncovers murder for money

The owner of a club in Bucharest’s Old Town whose body was found charred after a fire in the Old Town mid-June, was in fact killed by his business associate because of a debt. After paying him various amounts of money which he never got back, the associate smashed his partner’s head with a hammer, then hid his body at the first floor of the place in the Old Town. Several days later, mid-June, he set the place on fire to cover up his crime. The man whose body was found, Nicu Stanciu, who had rented out the club on Gabroveni street where he ended up dying, had partnered the killer, Vasile Văduva, in 2008, for a land plot deal in the Pipera area of Bucharest. After that deal, Stanciu ended up owing Vaduva some EUR 120,000. Later on, Stanciu proposed his former business associate to rent out the space for the Eden restaurant in the Old Town together, and Vaduva was to invest some EUR 25,000 in renovating it. Stanciu promised to repay some of the money after coming into some funds. According to judicial sources quoted by Mediafax, Vaduva gave his business partner several amounts of money, which should have been invested into the revamping, without signing any legal documents. Tensions sparked after renovation work stalled. The financier, Vaduva, proposed to bring a third partner into the business, who started giving various amounts of money for the renovation too. The pace of work was however still quite slow. The two business partners told Stanciu they were willing to pay some EUR 15,000 themselves to a construction company, to have the restaurant done by summer, but he refused and asked the two for an extra EUR 5,000. Realizing he was the victim of a sham, Vaduva told Stanciu he was willing to give up on the money he had invested in the restaurant in exchange for receiving the EUR 120,000 owed from the 2008 land deal. He asked for a legal document acknowledging the debt, which Stanciu signed, but which turned out to be legally void. The day of the crime, Stanciu took the document to re-do it, but returned with a document filled of mistakes. On the second attempt, the document again had mistakes. The two business partners entered the restaurant building, to avoid having a fight in front of the staff. The victim asked for some EUR 3,000 from his business partner in order to sign the document in the form he wanted. It was then when Vaduva grabbed a hammer and hit his associate in the head several times, causing his death. In the following days, the killer covered his associate’s body with a blanket and placed him in a plastic bag, then hid it under the wooden floor in a room at the first floor of the building in the Old Town. During the night on June 17, as the body was putrescent, Vaduva decided to set the building on fire, to cover up his crime, according to prosecutors. He was arrested for 30 days, while his trial is ongoing. editor@romania-insider.com