Vântu"s monkey finally leaves the cage

Ioana Maria Vlas says she left the country out of fear.

"If I had come out and told people to take their money out, I"m not sure I would have still been alive the next day", Vlas said yesterday, on Antena 3. "I hoped it could be done differently. Knowing what Vîntu was capable to do, I was afraid of him. I just couldn"t handle the stress anymore. I was scare that"s why I left. When the FNI collapsed, two truckloads of paperwork disappeared from the headquarters of SOV Invest, with the help of the police", the "mother of the FNI" added.

Ioana Maria Vlas also said that she doubts Nicolae Popa will return to Romania: "Mr. Irinel Păun said that my testimony and those made by others are worthless, because Vîntu"s signature doesn"t appear on any papers. I doubt that Popa would end up in Romania, because Vîntu"s money has a lot of power in a country such as the one where Nicolae Popa lives".

• I"ve got a pension of 2800 lei

My pension is 28 million lei, and all of it goes into a fund that is frozen, Maria Vlas added.

"I had no connection with the theft from the FNI. Mr. Popa was carrying the money in huge bags and was taking them to Gelsor, and to other places. Vîntu told me: Boss lady, please stay away for a while, while I solve everything and scrub your name clean".

• "If I had truly been the mother of the FNI as everyone says I was, it wouldn"t have collapsed"

Ioana Maria Vlas considers that today"s Romania is in a terrible state: "I"m shocked to see so much misery and pain. I don"t know who"s living better. People on the outside or people in prison".

Vlas also added that had she truly been the mother of the FNI, it wouldn"t have collapsed: "I wasn"t the right hand of Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu. I became the manager of that fund knowing what was really happening there".

• "Sorin Ovidiu Vântu"s FNI raised 3000 billion. They disappeared just as easily as they came in"

Ioana Vlas added: "In 99, in December, after a huge argument with SOV, I left by handing in my resignation. Having the guarantee of CEC (ed. note: currently CEC Bank) and using his slogan < Sleep easy >, Sorin Ovidiu Vântu"s FNI raised 3000 billion. They disappeared just as easily as they came in".

She added: "Since I knew the situation of the fund, as I had ordered an investigation at SOV Invest and at the FNI, when Sorin Ovidiu Vântu came to me, he said that I was the one who should be the president of SOV Invest". If the money hadn"t been taken out of the FNI, they could have been put to good use, since there was a chance of plugging the hole, over time. This is what I tried to do.

• "Mr. Vîntu didn"t look me up after I returned to Romania"

Ioana Vlas also added that she feels deeply sorry for those people (ed. note: those who lost their money they invested in the FNI). She also added that Vîntu didn"t look her up after she returned to Romania. In the end Maria Vlas said that she wishes that the victims of the FNI get their money back.