Romanian investor Cornel Penescu, former funder of local football club FC Arges and former owner of the PIC retail network, will spend five years behind bars after judges from the Prahova Court admitted his request to merge the definitive sentences he got in seven criminal cases.

Penescu currently serves time in Ploiesti Penitentiary. The decision is not final and can be appealed within three days from notification, reports local Agerpres.

The Romanian businessman received jail sentences between two and five years in four cases, including the one that also focused on former mayor of Craiova Antonie Solomon and the one in which Constantin Nicolescu, former president of Arges County Council, was convicted of fraud with European Funds.

Penescu was also sentenced to jail, with parole, in three other cases. The sentences were of two years and six months and three years respectively.

The judges ruled that Penescu would execute the higher sentence of five years.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com