Seven former members of the National Authority for Property Restitution (ANRP), three valuators, and two local investors are investigated in a new case of overvalued restitutions, which may have damaged the state budget by over EUR 17 million.

The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) charged former ANRP president Ancuta Gianina Opre, and six other former members of the ANRP council with abuse of office for granting compensations worth over RON 98 million (EUR 22 million) to local investors Mihai Rotaru and Diana Le Bomin, based on litigious rights they held over three land plots in Bistrita, a town in central Romania.

The three land plots totaled 10.7 hectares and their real value was some RON 20 million (EUR 4.45 million). The restitution damaged the state budget by some RON 78 million (EUR 17.4 million), according to a DNA press release.

The three valuators who determined the value of the three land plots, based on which the compensations were paid, are also being prosecuted for complicity to abuse of office.

DNA has investigated several other similar cases in recent years. Mihai Rotaru himself was questioned by the DNA in a similar case, in 2015. He was one of the biggest beneficiaries of compensations granted by the ANRP.

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editor@romania-insider.com