Local investor and pastry chef Tudor Constantinescu, the owner of the Chocolat restaurant network in Bucharest, was held by the prosecutors on Friday, November 13, on charges of tax evasion.

The prosecutors from the anti-organized crime squad DIICOT also held three other people and place five more under judicial control. The Bucharest Court approved 30-day arrest warrants on the suspects, reports local Mediafax.

Tudor Constantinescu is investigated alongside other restaurant and luxury club owners in Bucharest for tax evasion. They apparently used a software that allowed double bookkeeping, which helped them register lower official revenues and pay lower taxes. The software was delivered in 2006 by a firm in Constanta, whose owners were also detained. The damage was estimated at some EUR 7 million.

Constantinescu was arrested as he allegedly established and ran the crime ring, according to the prosecutors. He said on Thursday that he would cooperate with the authorities to prove his innocence.

Tudor Constantinescu has studied gastronomy in Belgium and learned from some famous Belgian chocolatiers, such as Wittamer, Marcolini, and Herman Van Dender. He then worked for four years as a consultant for Marriott and Royal Caribbean, before opening his first restaurant in Romania.

His business currently includes six restaurants in Bucharest and 170 employees. The Chocolat restaurant at Piata Dorobanti was closed on Sunday.

Tudor Constantinescu was also one of the jurors in the Top Chef cooking show broadcasted by Antena 1 TV station.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Tudor Constantinescu Facebook page)