Romania emergency chief Raed Arafat charged in helicopter smuggling case

Raed Arafat, head of the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU), has been formally charged in a smuggling investigation concerning a helicopter brought into Romania without allegedly paying the required import VAT, Agerpres reported. Arafat confirmed his new legal status on Friday, September 11, as he arrived at the Military Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Military Court of Appeal.

“I was informed that I now have the status of defendant in the ‘smuggling’ case, and I put that in quotation marks, involving the helicopter,” Raed Arafat said.

“As an individual, I have the right to defend myself, and my defense has two limits: those of the law and of decency. I will continue to respect both.”

A total of 17 people are under investigation for alleged smuggling as co-perpetrators, accomplices, or instigators.

The case concerns the replacement of a Romanian General Aviation Inspectorate helicopter that crashed near Haragîș in the Republic of Moldova on June 2, 2016, while carrying out a SMURD emergency mission. The aircraft was destroyed, and all four people on board died.

Under the insurance settlement, the insurer could either pay the inspectorate RON 23.34 million, equivalent to EUR 5.27 million, or replace the destroyed helicopter with a similarly equipped aircraft. The parties agreed on a replacement.

The General Aviation Inspectorate took possession of the replacement helicopter in Guernsey in November 2017 and subsequently brought it to Romania. Before entering service, the aircraft required customs clearance and the payment or securing of the applicable taxes, prosecutors said, as reported by Agerpres.

The investigators allege that the helicopter entered Romania and was used without those procedures being completed, causing an estimated RON 4.44 million loss to the state budget in unpaid import VAT.

The prosecutors said there was “reasonable suspicion” that those involved in settling the insurance claim allowed the insurer to fulfill its obligation using a replacement helicopter that had not received customs clearance and for which the required VAT had not been paid.