Three individuals convicted in the so-called “Baneasa file” related to illegal transfer of 224 hectares of land into private hands from a state university, including millionaire Gabriel Popoviciu, plus three companies involved in the same case, have appealed to the High Court against the writ of attachment for the 224 hectares in northern Bucharest, Wall-street.ro reported.

The appeal came after the Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled that the land should be returned to the Romanian state and extended the writ of attachment until the real estate restitution.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal on December 28 ruled that 224 hectares of land in the Baneasa area, where some of Bucharest’s biggest retail projects and the U.S. Embassy are located, must return to the state. The decision is not final.

The land targeted by this sentence currently belongs to Romanian investor Gabriel Popoviciu, who was convicted to seven years in jail, in August 2017, for having illegally obtained it from the Bucharest Agronomy University in the early 2000s.

editor@romania-insider.com