Romanian tax agency seizes salary of homeless man who returned to employment

A man in the western Romania city of Timisoara has had his salary seized by the tax agency after he managed to get back into employment, after spending ten years on the streets. The agency plans to recover RON 44,000 (EUR 9,462) from him. The sum covers the hundreds of fines the man, Arpad Kendi (pictured), received while living on the streets. The man, who was previously employed at the Lupeni coal mine, has already paid RON 2,000 (EUR 430) as every month a sum of RON 350 (EUR 75) is seized from his salary, Adevarul reported. Most of the fines he received are for vagrancy and consumption of alcoholic beverages in a public space. Some are for lack of identification papers or for not having them updated. “I was stopped almost every day for identification. After identification, I was receiving a fine. I knew the policemen and they knew me. After I had my papers redone and got a job, I was told I need to pay these fines. I said that I would,” he told Adevarul. Some of the fines were given two-three days apart by the same agent, and in some days the man received several from different institutions, such as the Local Police, the Gendarmerie or the County Police, Robert Szasz, the pro-bono lawyer of the man, explained. He says he plans to file a complaint over abuse of office in Kendi’s case. Another complaint would be over forgery in official documents, as some of the fines Kendi received are not signed by him. Kendi managed to find a place to live and a job with the help of Stefan Cojocnean, the only Romanian participant in the Impossibility Challenger, a world championship of extreme sports. Cojocnean offered him an annex of his sports hall to use as a home and helped him find employment. He said Kendi reintegrated well but needs to raise some money to find a one-room apartment to rent. (Photo: Stefan Iulian Cojocnean Facebook Page) editor@romania-insider.com