Businessman Nikolaus Mann has been indicted, along with six other people, on charges of embezzlement from the Aton Group. The misappropriated funds in total could value some EUR 33 million, according to prosecutors for Romania's organized crime unit (DIICOT).

Mann, aged 56 and from Timisoara in Western Romania, controls SC Euromobile and the other suspects are all from the same company. In 2006, the German group Aton GmbH decided to invest in Romanian agriculture, and started a partnership with the firm owned by Nikolaus Mann, together creating Aton Transilvania, with an announced investment of EUR 200 million from the German group. With over 40,000 hectares of land worked and some 2,500 employees at some point, Aton Transilvania became one of the largest employers in Western Romania.

Later on however, the German group accused Nikolaus Mann to have created a new firm, Euromobile, which embezzled funds from Aton. Aton Transilvania ended in insolvency in September 2011. Before that, the German company had withdrawn from the investment in Romania, giving their shares to another German company.

Prosecutors said the suspects and the company SC Euromobile are facing very serious charges of embezzlement, fraudulent management, document forgery and money laundering. Daniel Tunea, Mihaela Cipleu, Cristian Mois, Lucian Ivănescu, Dan Popa and Violeta Morariu will also be prosecuted and were allegedly recruited by Mann to defraud the Aton Group.

“The members of the group […] coordinated by defendant Nikolaus Mann, received substantial financial benefits by fraudulently acquiring, using and trafficking goods and money [...] by forgery and use of forged documents,” reads a statement made by DIICOT today (April 23).

Aton Gmbh is a German holding set up in 2011 by doctor Lutz Mario Helmig, and which runs 70 companies worlwide in mining industry, pharmaceutical manufacturing, automotive, agriculture and medical research. The group had a EUR 1.8 billion turnover in 2011.

editor@romania-insider.com