Legal actions in Romania involving timber fraud and EU fund misuse

Two separate legal cases in Romania have resulted in criminal proceedings involving fraud and the misuse of funds.

In Mureșenii Bârgăului, the administrator of SC Cipy SRL, Ioan Galben, has received a suspended one-year and six-month prison sentence after being caught transporting illegal timber. Investigators found that Galben entered fictitious data into the SUMAL 2.0 application to underreport the volume of timber being moved. While the electronic documents stated 33.552 cubic meters of timber, the actual load was 55.439 cubic meters. The company was fined 30,000 lei, and over 60,000 lei was confiscated from the accounts of the firm and its administrator.

Separately, the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) has indicted six individuals in a case involving the Lower Danube River Administration (AFDJ) in Galați. The case concerns the acquisition of two multifunctional ice-class tugboats funded by European Union resources, with an estimated loss of approximately 7 million euros. Prosecutors allege that the tender requirements were manipulated to favor a specific company by including technical specifications for maritime vessels rather than inland waterway vessels. Furthermore, officials allegedly signed off on the receipt of the tugboats despite them having a 2.6-meter draft, exceeding the 2-meter limit specified in the contract, which limits their safe navigation on the Danube.