Fugitive ex-officer of the Romanian Intelligence Service turns himself in to Italian police

Daniel Dragomir, a former officer of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in prison for influence peddling and bribery in Romania, turned himself in at a police station in Bari, Italy.

He became a wanted person after fleeing Romania in June last year, just before the court’s ruling.

“On the morning of February 4, 2021, the Romanian Police was informed […] by the Italian authorities that yesterday, a 42-year-old man, wanted at international level, presented himself at a police station in Bari, accompanied by his lawyer. He was taken to the Bari Penitentiary, pending his presentation before the court, for the validation of the European arrest warrant issued by the Bucharest Tribunal,” the Romanian Police said in a press release quoted by News.ro.

A court is to judge and rule on his extradition to Romania.

In mid-July 2020, Dragomir was also sent to court in another case nicknamed “Black Cube.” In that case, the prosecutors charged him with setting up an organized crime group, inciting to illegal access to a computer system, inciting to the unauthorized transfer of computer data, and involvement in other illegal operations. According to the indictment, Daniel Dragomir tried to compromise the former head of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), Laura Codruta Kovesi, president Klaus Iohannis, and SRI head Eduard Hellvig.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)