CORRUPTION WITHOUT BORDERS The aunt of "Leo from Strehaia", investigated for tax evasion

Six people, including Stela Mihai, the aunt of alleged mobster Ion Stelică Mihai (nicknamed Leo from Strehaia), are being investigated on charges of tax evasion and money laundering, without being detained, in a case which involves losses of approximately 3.3 million Euros incurred by the state budget, Nicolae Lohon, the spokesperson of the County Police Inspectorate of Mehedinţi, told BURSA.

The decision was made yesterday by the Court of Mehedinţi, after the police had detained the six suspects on Wednesday.

Stela Mihai is the self-proclaimed president of the gypsies in Strehaia. Her daughter and son are among the defendants.

"Following the investigations, the policemen of the Department for Investigating Fraud have issued 24-hour arrest warrants for R.I., aged 36, M.S., aged 52, M.L., aged 34, M.M., aged 33, and M.I., aged 27, all from the town of Strehaia, county of Mehedinţi, all of them proxies and administrators of companies headquartered in Strehaia", according to a communiqué of the Police Inspectorate of the County of Mehedinţi.

On Wednesday, the policemen of the County Police Inspectorate of Mehedinţi conducted nine searches in relation to this case: eight in Strehaia and one in Baia Mare. The members of the faction are suspected of having logged fictitious commercial transactions between 2008 and 2013, using the companies they represented, and the amounts obtained were then booked on the companies' financial statements, which caused a loss of 3.3 million Euros to the state budget.

A number of documents and several luxury vehicles were seized from the Strehaia villa owned by Stela Mihai: a brand new BMW X6 car, one almost new BMW X5 and an Audi A4, worth approximately 100,000 Euros, Nicolae Lohon told us.