Asked about the EUR 34 million state aid that Romania must recover from the insolvent airline Blue Air under a European Commission's decision announced last week, European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean admitted that if the government can not collect the money, then "that's it" – it's not the Commission's money, anyways. 

"I don't know how to tell you, technically, what is happening. [...] If this company were still viable, it would have greatly impacted its operations and financial soundness. Now, the company, I believe, no longer exists. There is probably a list of creditors, and the Romanian state must join them and try to recover the money," EC Commissioner Vălean said, quoted by Agerpres.

All the government can do is file a claim, along with all the other airlines' creditors, she implied.

Experts consulted upon the EC's ruling on the Blue Air illegal state aid hinted that the government may attempt to recover the money from "the airline's shareholders." The state owns 75% of insolvent Blue Air at this moment, however.

In this context, it is relevant to note that Blue Air's founder and main shareholder for a long period (before passing the majority 75% stake to the state in exchange for a EUR 60 million loan), Nelu Iordache, avoided a 12.5 years jail sentence in January 2023, on procedure. 

The jail sentence, issued in 2021 for embezzlement, was scrapped as the prescription period expired, according to Ch-aviation.com.

Iordache was arrested and charged with embezzlement in April 2013, linked to an attempt to sell the then loss-making carrier; to "tax evasion in a continuous form"; and to his allegedly adding fictitious purchases of advertising materials in the accounts. Romania's anticorruption prosecutors (Direcția Națională Anticorupție - DNA) sent the case to court in June 2018, and the entrepreneur received his sentence in March 2021. Less than two years later, the sentence was scrapped.

Iordache was in January 2023 in prison, serving a final sentence of 11 years and nine months in a separate case related to fraud with European funds allocated for the construction of a road between the towns of Arad and Nădlac in western Romania.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Adina Valean)