Romanian presidential couple lose house in downtown Sibiu after final court decision

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and his wife Carmen Iohannis lost the ownership of a house in the center of Sibiu, after the Pitesti Court of Appeal yesterday issued a final sentence in this case. The Iohannis family were no longer owners of this house since April last year, after being removed from the land register at the request of the Public Finance Administration. They lost the ownership of the house, after a final judgment of the Brasov Court of Appeal, in November 2015. Iohannis was unhappy with the decision and challenged it at the Pitesti Court of Appeal, which rejected his action. The history of this property is controversial. The house had been nationalized by the communist regime and, after 1990 is was bought by tenants who lived in it. However, their contracts were canceled, following a restitution request filed by a supposed heir. The heir sold the house to the Iohannis family. A court later decided that the documents based on which the supposed heir got the house were invalid and the restitution was illegal. After 16 years of trials, the house returned to the state. The house in downtown Sibiu was one of the most valuable properties of the President’s family, who leased it to a local bank and made significant revenues from this contract. Klaus Iohannis and his wife only owned 50% of the property while the man who got the restitution held the other half. According to documents presented by local investigation journalism platform Rise Project, the ground floor of the house was leased to Raiffeisen Bank in 2006 for an annual rent of EUR 60,000. Klaus Iohannis, a former mayor of Sibiu, and his wife own five other properties in Sibiu, two apartments and three houses, according to the President’s wealth statement. The presidential couple made some RON 120,000 (EUR 26.600) from leasing their properties, according to the same document quoted by Mediafax. The Presidential Administration’s spokesperson said yesterday that the President complies with the court’s decisions and has complied with the court’s decision on the house in the center of Sibiu ever since November 2015. editor@romania-insider.com