Judges lift judicial control measure on Romanian businessman Vladimir Ciorbă in Nordis case

Romanian businessman Vladimir Ciorbă, investigated in the now-famous Nordis case together with former Social Democratic deputy Laura Vicol, is now permitted to leave the country after judges lifted the judicial control measure.

The controversial real estate developer Nordis, operating in some of Romania’s prime residential and commercial areas, collected nearly EUR 200 million through a “three-tiered pyramid scheme,” according to prosecutors from the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT). The group allegedly developed real estate projects under the guise of various companies, collected money from buyers, embezzled company funds, and misled customers during the signing of pre-contracts and sales agreements.

The case broke out in October 2024 after an investigation by independent journalists at Recorder and became a major story alleging corruption at the highest levels.

Ciorbă, the main shareholder of the real estate developer, and others are currently investigated for setting up an organized criminal group, embezzlement, money laundering, tax evasion, and fraud. They were detained at the beginning of the year, while the company went into bankruptcy at the same time. Police seized over 200 properties and 11 cars in the same case.

Nevertheless, the case is far from over. On August 11, the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice had ordered the extension of the judicial control measure in Vladimir Ciorbă’s case until October 11, but the businessman contested the decision and won, according to News.ro.

On June 19, the Bucharest Court of Appeal admitted a similar complaint filed by Vladimir Ciorbă regarding the extension of judicial control.

A large part of the scandal was that the Nordis management allegedly had political backing through Laura Vicol, a network that supposedly extended to former prime minister Marcel Ciolacu, who took