Mircea Sandu is prosecuted by the anticorruption prosecutors for bribery and money laundering, after he received a bribe of RON 724,000, through his wife, to whom this case also refers, from the representatives of a law firm, when he was the President of the Romanian Football Federation, I order for FRF to conclude two legal assistance agreements with the law firm in question, according to DNA.

Mircea Sandu

The prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Directorate – the Department for Fighting against Crimes Assimilated to the Corruption Crimes, ordered that the prosecution must continue against Mircea Sandu, who was the President of the Romanian Football Federation at the time of the deeds, for bribery and money laundering, as well as against Elisabeta Sandu, his wife, for complicity in bribery and money laundering.

Prosecutors say that on October 2, 2009, the suspect Mircea Sandu intentionally received through his wife, Elisabeta Sandu, a bribe of RON 724,000 from the representatives of a law firm.

“The money was received by the suspect in order for the Romanian Football Federation to conclude two legal assistance agreement with the law firm, which was materialized by signing the two documents on October 20, 2009”, according to DNA.

According to the quoted source, from September 22, 2008 to October 2, 2009, Mircea Sandu disguised the true nature of the origin of the money received, putting them into his wife account and creating “the appearance that this amount represented damages paid by the law firm to her, due to breaching certain contractual provisions”.

The two persons have been informed about their quality in the trial and about the charges.

Mircea Sandu came to DNA on Tuesday morning, staying thee less than one hour.

When exiting, Mircea Sandu’s lawyer stated that the former President of the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) is a suspect in a bribery and money laundering case.

“It’s a new case, related to bribery and money laundering. In this moment, he is a suspect” the lawyer said.

Mircea Sandu didn’t wish to comment, saying that he doesn’t know what it’s about.

Last week, the former President of the Romanian Football Federation (FRF), Mircea Sandu, was acquitted by the magistrates of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, together with the former President of the Professional Football League (LPF), Dumitru Dragomir, in the case of the exclusion of the club FC Universitatea Craiova, owned by Adrian Mititelu, from FRF.

The decision is final.

On June 13, 2016, Mircea Sandu and Dumitru Dragomir were sentenced to three years of suspended prison and each of them was obliged to pay RON 80,000 as criminal fee.

In this case, Mircea Sandu and Dumitru Dragomir were sent to court by the anticorruption prosecutors on June 13, being accused of abuse of office, using their influence or authority to obtain undue money, goods or benefits for themselves or for other persons, and avoiding seizure. FRF and LPF are also accused of abuse of office against people’s interests and of avoiding seizure.

Nine O’Clock

28 June 2017

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