St. Iosif Cathedral Scandal Goes On Supreme Court Denies Motion For Change Of Venue

Millennium Building Development, the developer of the Cathedral Plaza project, a 19-storey building under construction near the St. Iosif Cathedral in Bucharest, yesterday announced that the Supreme Court of Romania had denied the motion for a change of venue filed by the Roman Catholic Bishopric, the legal owner of the Cathedral. Millennium Building Development officials issued a press release on the matter:

"We recall that, on 25 June 2009, the Ploiesti Court of Appeal, after having thoroughly reviewed the case in line with the legal framework and in observance of the rights of all parties, passed the final, irrevocable ruling on the appeal filed by the Bucharest City Hall District 1 and Millennium Building Development. The Court thus validated the construction permit which forms the basis for developing the Cathedral Plaza project near the St. Iosif Cathedral. As usual, the Roman Catholic Bishopric challenged the final irrevocable ruling and filed on 13 July 2009 a groundless petition for a review of the ruling and a change of venue," reads the press release from Millennium Building Development.

According to the developer, the only purpose of the Roman Catholic Bishopric is to maintain public doubt on the Cathedral Plaza project for as long as possible and make it seem illegal. Millennium Building Development stressed that the project had been fully in line with the law since the very beginning and that transparency was ensured for all the steps leading to the issuance of the construction permit for Cathedral Plaza. Such transparency measures included direct contact with the Bishopric. According to them, the company did have the Bishopric"s agreement for the project, which was later confirmed by the final, irrevocable ruling of the Court.