Romanian High Court overturns preventive arrest decisions in Nordis real estate fraud case

Romania's High Court ruled on Friday, February 14, to release former Social Democrat MP Laura Vicol and her husband, Vladimir Ciorbă, the main shareholder of Nordis, from preventive arrest. The decision is final, according to local news agency Agerpres.

Laura Vicol remains free without any other control measures, while Vladimir Ciorbă and other defendants will be placed under judicial supervision for 60 days.

Vicol and Ciorbă were placed in preventive detention for 30 days on February 5 through an enforceable but not final decision. Their lawyers filed an appeal against the measure, which was reviewed in recent days by a panel of three judges from the High Court.

Briefly, Laura Vicol and Vladimir Ciorbă are accused of embezzling tens of millions of euros from companies within the Nordis group and spending the money on vacations, private jet travel, luxury goods, and high-end cars, Agerpres reported. The withdrawn sums allegedly came from clients defrauded by Nordis.

Defendants in this case are being investigated for offenses including organized crime, embezzlement with particularly severe consequences, money laundering, tax evasion, large-scale fraud, and knowingly misreporting taxes to unlawfully obtain refunds or compensations from the state budget, all committed continuously.

"Investigations so far, involving 72 individuals (40 individuals and 32 companies), reveal that since 2018, three of them initiated and structured a criminal group operating in a pyramid scheme. They developed real estate projects under various companies, collected funds from buyers, embezzled company assets, misled clients through sales contracts, falsified accounting records to evade taxes, and unlawfully obtained VAT refunds or state budget compensations, causing financial damage to companies, customers, and the state," DIICOT prosecutors stated.

Dozens of searches were conducted in various locations in Romania and Monaco early last week as part of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) investigation. Prosecutors seized over 50 computers and data storage devices, mobile phones, various sums of money in different currencies, official documents, and luxury goods such as watches, jewelry, and designer handbags.

According to the Romanian Police, 201 properties (apartments and houses), five commercial spaces, 22 plots of land, 11 vehicles, company shares, and stocks have been seized, while 48 bank accounts belonging to individuals and legal entities have been frozen.