Romanian businessman gets 19-year jail sentence after selling fictitious apartments in Cluj - Napoca

Romanian businessman Marius Leontiuc, prosecuted for a more than EUR 1 million fraud, has been sentenced to 19 years in jail by the Cluj Court of Appeal. However, the court’s decision is not final. Two of Leontiuc’s collaborators, namely Nicoleta Barla and Mariana Chifor, have been also sentenced to jail in the same case. Marius Leontiuc, owner of a firm in Timisoara, was first sentenced to 10 years in prison in May 2011 by the Cluj Court of Appeal, for fraud and forgery. The sentence was not final and was appealed by Leontiuc. The Romanian businessman was arrested and sent to trial in 2008, together with two other persons, representatives of a real estate agency, according to local newswire Mediafax. They deceived more 100 people from Cluj-Napoca, causing them a total damage of over EUR 1 million. The businessman promised buyers apartments in Cluj - Napoca and received cash in down payments, but never built the apartment block. He has already been on preventive arrest for the last four years, so his final jail sentence will exclude the jail time he has already served. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: sxc.hu)