Syrian investor Omar Hayssam, the first man convicted for terrorism in Romania, was sentenced yesterday by the Bucharest Court of Appeal to 24 years and four months in prison in the "Manhattan" case in which he had been indicted for economic crimes by the DIICOT prosecutors.

In the same case, Mohamad Omar, Hayssam’s brother, was sentenced to 22 years in prison, and Mihai Nasture, Hayssam’s brother-in-law, remained with a sentence of three years and four months.

The judges of the Bucharest Court of Appeal increased the sentences given by the Bucharest Court in November 2015.

According to DIICOT, Hayssam and the other four defendants had contracted bank loans in the name of Bucovina Mineral Water and Rio Soft Drinks, then transferred the two companies’ assets, including a soft drinks factory and a mineral water bottling factory, to other real or ghost companies within the “Manhattan Group”. Their illegal activities resulted in EUR 20 million damages to the two companies and the state budget.

Omar Hayssam has four other convictions in Romania, including a 20-year sentence for orchestrating the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq. He fled the country in 2006 but was captured and brought back in 2013.

editor@romania-insider.com