Romanian businessman Catalin Chelu, one of the biggest individual investors on the local capital market, died in Jordan, on Monday, December 8, according to unofficial sources quoted by viata-libera.ro news portal.

Chelu, 47, was suffering from a severe heart condition and was one the waiting list for a transplant.

Catalin Chelu was apparently living in Jordan, as a fugitive from the Romanian authorities. He was convicted to 6 years in jail, in September this year, for bribing a state secretary back in December 2010. He had fled the country three months before the court ruled in his case, according to local media.

Chelu was caught in the act while trying to bribe Dan Valentin Fatuloiu, a former state secretary in the Internal Affairs Ministry, back in December 2010. He had promised EUR 1 million to Fatuloiu to help him with some criminal cases in which he was investigated at the time. Fatuloiu denounced Chelu and cooperated with the police in setting up the flagrant.

Catelin Chelu controlled directly or through middlemen more than 20 listed companies. Most of his companies are listed on the RASDAQ segment of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, but he also owned some companies listed on the main market, including vacuum cleaner producer Electroarges from Curtea de Arges and auto component producer Altur Slatina.

His fortune was estimated at some EUR 15 million, according to this year’s Forbes 500 Richest Romanians ranking.

Read more about Catalin Chelu here: Convicted Romanian businessman and stock market investor turns fugitive

editor@romania-insider.com