How Mayor Traian Basescu Conceded Premium Property To Popoviciu, Creteanu

• Comaliment received 850 square meters of premium land in Dorobanti from the Bucharest City Hall in 2003. Gabriel Popoviciu and partners Nicolae Badea, Sorin Creteanu and Radu Dimofte built condominium on it

• President Traian Basescu only defended two businessmen in trouble with the law: Arpad Paszkany and Puiu Popoviciu

• Coincidence or not, Paszkany and Popoviciu are in business together

• Their lawyer became head of Premier Emil Boc"s Controller Corps

Darius Porumboiu

Throughout his term as President of Romania, Traian Basescu only defended two Romanian businessmen in public: Gabriel "Puiu" Popoviciu and Arpad Paszkany, both of whom are connected to important people around the President. At the time when the President made public statements about the two businessmen - one of whom he described as an ordinary citizen from Cluj - both of them were under criminal investigation.

The ongoing scandal, involving the President"s daughter, Ioana Basescu - who acquired a luxury apartment in the "Baneasa Residential" condominium owned by Puiu Popoviciu and Sorin Creteanu - reveals a long chain of coincidences and interesting details from the time when Traian Basescu was Mayor of Bucharest. In December 2003, the Bucharest City Hall conceded 850 square meters of land in the Bucharest luxury area of Dorobanti to Comaliment, a company controlled by Puiu Popoviciu, Sorin Creteanu, Nicolae Badea and Radu Dimofte.

The land was located at 239 Calea Dorobanti. Puiu Popoviciu and Sorin Creteanu created a company called Dorobanti 239 Imobiliare (i.e. Dorobanti 239 Real Estate) and built a six-floor condominium. Construction works were supervised by former Bucharest City Chief Architect Adrian Bold, whose wife later became an associate of Sorin Creteanu. Sorin Creteanu is a partner in and the contractor of the residential area that Puiu Popoviciu is building on the land acquired from the Bucharest University of Agricultural Science, which is subject to a criminal investigation started by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA).

Journalist Sorin Rosca Stanescu claims that Ioana Basescu actually bought the apartment in Baneasa through Sorin Creteanu, Popoviciu"s partner, and not through a real estate agency. If considered in connection to the concession deal of 2003, Sorin Rosca Stanescu"s statement gains further significance, as the purchase of the luxurious apartment in Baneasa could be interpreted as a favour done by the businessmen upon the approval of the concession six years ago.

Another strange coincidence is that the only two businessmen to benefit from minimal defence from the President - Popoviciu and Paszkany - are partners in the Wine Club and the Trigranit Romania company. Another coincidence is that the lawyer of the two businessmen, Sorin Alazaroaie, has been recently appointed head of Prime Minister Emil Boc"s Controller Corps. Finally, it should be also said that Sorin Creteanu is a friend of former Mayor of Bucharest Adriean Videanu (PD-L)