Romania's High Court (ICCJ) rejected the appeal of the Romanian Government in the dispute with the businessman Puiu Popoviciu, who requested the annulment of two government decisions issued in 1999 regarding the 224-hectare land in the northern part of Bucharest developed by the businessman and currently hosting an IKEA store, a shopping mall (Băneasa), and the US embassy, among others.

ICCJ announced the ruling on April 4, but the reasoned ruling was not published yet. 

The decision was grounded on the fact that the land is not part of the state's public domain, according to the reasoned decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal consulted by G4media.ro. The court, therefore, established that the land was not in the public property of the state but in the private property of the University of Agronomy (which is state-owned).

Popoviciu was sentenced in 2017 for allegedly fraudulently appropriating a 224-ha plot of land in northern Bucharest from the University of Agronomy (USAMV), with the participation of USAMV management.

In 2023, Romania's Court of Appeal (CAB) scrapped the seven-year prison sentence. CAB also ruled that the case should be re-judged.

The land was granted to USAVM in 1929 by a private owner (Marta Bibescu) on the condition that the land should be used for educational and research purposes. 

Under a ruling issued in 2019 that was made final in 2020, the 224 ha were taken from Popoviciu's Baneasa Investments and given to the state, which is entitled to decide on the future use of the land. It can collect rent and other benefits from existing buildings, which include the Baneasa shopping mall, IKEA store, and the US embassy, and compensate USAMV with another plot of land.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)