Romanian investor Horia Simu has declared in front of the judges that he had offered a EUR 250,000 bribe to Serban Pop, the former head of the tax agency ANAF.

The former head of ANAF promised to help Simu escape a criminal investigation and forwarded a part of the money to Alina Bica, who was then the chief prosecutors of the Directorate for Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT).

Simu said to the judge that he paid the bribe out of fear. He claimed that the former chief of ANAF had threatened him, reports local Digi24.

Serban Pop and Alina Bica will also appear in court at the end of next month.

Horia Simu was arrested by the anticorruption prosecutors last year for illegally getting a EUR 128 million compensation from Romania’s National Agency for Property Restitution (ANRP). He allegedly bribed the ANRP officials to get this compensation for a land plot that was much overvalued.

Simu became known as the “copper banker” after leaving Citibank Romania, where he was a vice-president, to create the biggest copper business in Romania, based on privatized state assets. His copper group, Cuprom, went into insolvency in 2008. Simu was also indicted for defrauding Cuprom.

editor@romania-insider.com