Cotroceni Park, the company which owns the AFI Cotroceni mall in Bucharest, and three of its top employees were sent to court by the Romanian prosecutors for tax evasion estimated at over RON 20 million (EUR 4.5 million).

The three employees are the economic director Laura Croitoru, the chief accountant Daniel Pohaci and Gabriela Alexe. They have allegedly hidden the real value of the building where the AFI Cotroceni mall operates, to pay a lower tax on the property to the local budget.

According to the prosecutors, the company that owns the mall declared that the asset’s value was some EUR 120 million when in fact it was close to EUR 145 million, thus paying a lower tax. The company has already paid most of the sum during the investigation, the prosecutors added.

The Cotroceni Park’s representatives said that they had no notice from the prosecutors that the investigation had been finalized and that the company had been sent to court. They also mentioned that the company has been respecting Romania’s laws and had paid close to EUR 13 million to the local budget.

AFI Cotroceni Mall, which is owned by Israeli group AFI Europe, was opened in October 2009, following a EUR 300 million investment. It is one of the biggest malls in Bucharest.

editor@romania-insider.com