The Romanian state will have to pay a record EUR 68 million compensation for a 21-hectare land plot in Voluntari, near Bucharest. The High Court of Cassation and Justice recently issued this final decision, awarding the EUR 68 million restitution to Vasile Geambazi, a nephew of Romanian football boss and politician Gigi Becali, who is currently in jail. Geambazi is also a shareholder in the football club Steaua, which is majority owned by Becali, and according to Romanian media, he is the person who will inherit Becali's fortune.

The court decision came after the National Authority for Property Restitution (ANRP) approved the issuance of the restitution title, and the reason for which the state will have to pay, and not give in kind compensation or apply the new restitution system based on points is that the court decision mentioned the amount which needed to be paid. The restitution file had been submitted at ANRP in 2010. The state will have to pay the due amount in five years, in yearly installment starting January 1, 2014, which means Geambazi will get some EUR 13.5 million a year from the state.

This happens soon after the Council Of Europe's Committee of Ministers has welcomed moves made by the Romanian authorities to reform the mechanisms and legal processes in the restitution of property confiscated during the communist era. The changes come in response to a landmark case at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in which the restitution system in Romania was found to be wanting. News broke earlier this year about Romania’s new plan to create an extra National Fund that would include agricultural land and forest, which would be given to former owners who failed to be compensated via the Fondul Proprietatea, which had been created for this purpose.

Romania has lost 435 cases at the ECHR concerning properties confiscated during the Communist regime, for breaching Article 1 in protocol 1 of the Convention on Human Rights, which protects property rights.

Over 200,000 property restitution files are currently awaiting a solution in Romania.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: sxc.hu)