Dorin Cioaba, the self-proclaimed king of Roma, was detained for 24 hours on Wednesday evening, September 13, in a case of tax evasion in which the damage to the state budget is estimated at over EUR 5 million, reports local Mediafax.

Police officers carried out 28 searches on Wednesday, in Mehedinti, Timis, Arges, Cluj, Sibiu, Hunedoara, Dolj and Gorj counties, and in Bucharest. The action targeted people suspected of tax evasion and money laundering.

Several people have been detained in this case, including Cioaba. His wife Sighisoara was also taken in for questioning after searches at their house in Sibiu.

The Police said that, between 2009 and 2014, representatives of several companies created a tax evasion circuit based on a fraudulent financial-banking system. Their aim was to dodge tax obligations. They’ve allegedly recorded several fake invoices in the companies’ accounting books, invoices based on fictitious commercial transactions totaling over EUR 18.4 million for which they deducted the VAT illegally. Moreover, they diminished the profit tax artificially. The damage to the state budget was estimated at over EUR 5 million.

Moreover, the Police also said that all the amounts of money obtained through this circuit were later laundered via these companies controlled by the suspects.

During Wednesday’s searches, the Police seized two luxury cars, some EUR 220,000 in cash, and EUR 21,000 in a bank account. The seized assets also include a building.

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Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Dorincioaba.ro)