STRIKING AT THE KING: The Prime-Minister"s Investigation Department, asked to investigate how former King Mihai came in possession of a building on the Peleş estate

Cătălin Deacu

The Government"s General Secretariat (SGG) requested that the Prime Minister"s Investigation body investigate the terms under which former director of RA-APPS (Government Business Enterprise for managing the Public Heritage), Adrian Dumitru, returned to former Romanian king Mihai one of the buildings which are part of the Peleş estate, according to a press release by SGG.

The aforementioned document states that, on December 28 2006, the General Manager of RA-APPS, Adrian Dumitru, signed a decision to return ownership of several buildings in Sinaia to former king Mihai.

The former king was to come in possession of the buildings based on a certificate of delivery and a protocol determining the compensation steps.

"The decision was challenged by the King and was not enforced because a consensus could not be reached on the value of the expenses incurred by the Romanian state with the maintenance of the properties in question, as RA-APPS would continue to manage these estates, except for the Peleş Castle", officials of the SGG said.

The officials of the SGG also said that the Romanian state, represented by RA-APPS, requested a minimum payment of EUR 10,784,058, whereas the officials of the Royal House claim the expenses should not exceed EUR 2,502,714.

"Given these circumstances, the representatives of the Royal Family, requested and were granted the registration of the estate returned according to Decree 461/2007, in the Ploie ti land book, without solving the issue of the expenses incurred by the Romanian state on the Peleş - Sinaia estate".

SGG claims that the assigning ownership of the estate to the Royal family infringes on the provisions of paragraph 12 of the Decree.

"Based on this registration in the land registry, the bailiff of the Ploie ti Court of Appeal "Pavel Bebi", on June 1st, 2009, demanded that RA-APPS assign full ownership of travel complex Furnica, together with its plot of land of 7,708.36 sqm, which are mentioned in art. 8 of the decree no. 461/28.12.2006 issued by the former General Manager of RA-APPS, even though this infringed the provisions of art. 12 of the decree", arată SGG.

The press release states that King Mihai will also receive ownership of the properties mentioned in articles 2 to 9, based on a handover protocol alone. The latter will be drafted according to an evaluation of the maintenance works executed by the Romanian state and after the compensation method would be determined.

In exchange of the unpaid amount, the state will negotiate keeping the ownership of several buildings and plots of land of the Peleş estate.

The party that owns the more expensive plots may be required to pay a monetary compensation, together with a 5.974,75 fee representing legal expenses incurred thus far. Officials of the RA-APPS lodged a criminal complaint against officials of the Land Registry and Real Estate Advertising of Prahova, alleging abuse of office and of public interest, said the SGG.

The Royal Family also submitted a challenge requesting that the RA-APPS acknowledge their rights of ownership of one of the buildings returned, which are part of the Peleş domain (the building located in Sinaia St., and Furnica St. no. 50 - Furnica Complex). The SGG says that the Court of Ploie ti decided to postpone the enforcement, forcing RA-APPS to pay 10,000 lei in bail bond.