The great theft and the shameless seizure of
luxury mansions in Romania started in the very beginning of the year 1990. At that time, the population was still
confused about the then recent events of the December 1989 Romanian
Revolution. Those who placed themselves
in leadership positions knew from the very beginning how to take advantage of
their status and how to manipulate public opinion in their favor. These new Romanian rulers easily managed to
overcome public scrutiny and they installed themselves into the very positions
recently held by rulers of the ousted communist regime.
The first “great stasher” of protocol
residencies was the Prime-Minister Petre Roman himself, who became overnight an
ad-hoc real estate agent of sorts for those powerful.
Let’s look at some significant examples,
among the hundreds of real estate abuses that happened after 1990.
A first abuse committed by Petre Roman
was that to gain a personal advantage.
In 1990, Petre Roman abusively modified the Government Ordinance
No. 115/1990 and removed the dwelling on Gogol Street No. 2 from the
jurisdiction of the Ministry for the National Economy. Mr. Roman and his family (wife and two
daughters) moved into the dwelling on Gogol Street No. 2. The dwelling is located in “Zone 0” of
Bucharest and has 220 square meters of living space, composed of 11 rooms on
three levels (including basement), 153 square meters of utility space, 3
bathrooms, 30 square meters of balcony, and a refrigerator room.
Which is the abuse of power, in this case? At
that time, Petre Roman was already the owner of a beautiful apartment on
the stylish Calea Victoriei 83/81, apartment 18.
He, as well as his wife, actress Ioana
Pavelescu, are Ion Iliescu’s protégées. They obtained a residence on Gogol Street No. 3. The dwelling has 172 square meters and
includes 9 rooms, 122 square meters of utility space and bathrooms, balcony,
laundry room and a sauna of 185 square meters.
It is true that the rent for this residence was 2,000 lei, as expected
(at the end of 1991!) Not to mention that
the dwelling was completely furnished (with furniture Bonanza and the kitchen
equipped with stainless steel utensils and appliances, etc). Nice for a couple, isn’t it?
He obtained from Petre Roman a
residence on Moliere Street No. 4. The
approval note for this dwelling contained a stamp stating “approved-urgent” and
it was signed by Petre Roman.
Next, Roman made a little “chess move” with the residencies and
asked Pop to move into the dwelling of the former communist official Gheorghe
David, on Herastrau Street No. 6.
Based on these facts, the Control Corps of the Prime-Minister concluded
that Petre Roman was guilty of “abuse of power while in office, because
he allocated several luxurious and spacious
mansions to his friends”. Minister
Pop already had a residence on Romania Boulevard No. 41/A. Even thought the municipal administration
did not agree with the swap of residencies between Minister Pop
and Gheorghe David, Petre Roman intervened and
urgently solved the problem.
Here are a few words about some former
leaders of the communist era. The now
deceased former Prime-Minister of Romania, Ion Gheorghe Maurer,
lived for more than 30 years in a huge and superb mansion with 16 rooms on
Aviatorilor Boulevard No. 106. Please
make a note that the former communist Prime-Minister never paid any money for
rent, electricity, maintenance, phone, and other utilities while living in his
residence. When, in 1994, a court
ordered his eviction, Ion Gheroghe Maurer allegedly
said: “I will not leave this
house! The ones who gave this order of
eviction are judges just like I am a priest.
Iliescu must help me now, just as I helped him when he needed
help.” The best part of this story is
that Comrade Maurer had another dwelling during all this time
that was located in a “proletarian (blue-collar)* ” part of Bucharest,
called Bordei.
Florea Ceausescu,
Is the brother of the “supreme commander”,
also nicknamed “the red baron”. In the
1970s, he had a mansion at Snagov, which unfortunately had no lake frontage. After 1990, the former mayor of Snagov, Teodor
Biris, made Florea Ceausescu a present. The mayor gave him 800 square meters of wooded land so that the
property would have direct access to the lake.
The 800 square meters of wooded land were simply taken from two elderly
women, residents of Snagov, named Steliana Nechifor and Maria Berlinschi. A recreation center for the former Romanian
Communist Youth Organization was planned to be built on the land on which Florea
Ceausescu built his mansion, but this did not matter because Florea
Ceausescu was the brother of the former Romanian dictator Nicolae
Ceausescu.
Stefan Andrei was the former Romanian Minister for Foreign Affairs
during the communist era. He was forced
to leave his residence from Berna Street No. 7 because the property had been
nationalized and the former owners reclaimed it. Please don’t pity him, because he did not end up in the
streets. The Ex-Minister has another
dwelling on Dorobanti Street and another one in the village of Snagov.
Here is a list of a few other privileged
people from the communist era who enjoyed living for free in nationalized
homes:
General Constantin Olteanu on Herastrau Street No. 6
Ion Patan on Helesteului Street No. 31
Traian Dudas on Herastrau Street No. 26
Ion Ceausescu (another brother of the Dictator) on Mircea
Eliade Street No. 4 (he also had a house in Tunari).
Ilie Ceausescu (another brother of the Dictator) on
Bruxelles Street No. 3. Ceausescu
shares the mansion on Mircea Eliade Street, No. 4, with Marius Tarlea,
the Vice-President of the Columna bank.
General Nicolae Plesita on Pictor Negulici Street, No.32
Richard Winter on Helesteului Street, No. 16
Returning to the present, we must also mention
General Corneliu Diamandescu, the former chief of the General
Commandment of Police and the coordinator of the “mineriada” * * from
June 13-15, 1990. He managed to put his
hands on Gogu Radulescu’s mansion on Eliza Zamfirescu Street.
He is Ion Iliescu’s close friend and
advisor and also one of Ioan Talpes’ very good friends. He obtained the nationalized mansion on
Crangului Street No. 24, which belonged to the engineer Hodos. The Hodos family initially regained in the
Courts ownership of their mansion, but the appeals proceedings of the Attorney
General of Romania to annul decisions favoring rightful owners, resulted in Secares
becoming the owner of Mr. Hodos’ property.
Let’s mention some more names of privileged
people who entered into possession of nationalized homes.
Victor Athanasie Stanculescu on Helesteului Street, No. 8
"Cico" Dumitrescu on Herastrau Street, No. 4
Dumitru Cioflina on
Crangului Street, No. 4
Corneliu Vadim Tudor on Dr. Lister Street, No. 6, next door
neighbor with
Radu Vasile on Dr.Lister Street, Nr. 8
Virgil Magureanu on Pictor Rosenthal Street, No13
Between 1994 and 1995, the affair
“Apartamentul (the Apartment)” which was officially called “The Report of The
Joint Investigative Commission regarding illegalities in dealing with dwellings
for members and staff of the parliament, government officials, and the
presidency between 1990 and 1994”, stirred a great deal of turbulence in the
Romanian political arena, in the media, and in the public opinion.
According to this report, 147 Romanian
officials, as well as some of their families and friends, illegally entered
into the possession of luxury residencies in “Zone 0” of Bucharest. According to Romanian law, protocol
dwellings are “available for elected and/or nominated officials for the
duration of their public mandate”. But
the Romanian Government transferred hundreds of residential units from its
administrative jurisdiction into the jurisdiction of the City of
Bucharest. Thus, luxury homes were sold
for unbelievable low prices to those who occupied them.
The uncontested champion of illegal real
estate dealings was Gheorghe Somanescu, the former director of SC Herastrau-Nord (former
ICRAL Herastrau). He illegally gave
homes to some key persons, and these persons guaranteed Somanescu’s
immunity up to the present.
Victor Opaschi, past and present counsel to the President,
according to his own declaration, was “warned and forced” by Somanescu
to move into the mansion of Eugen Jebeleanu (poet), where Jebeleanu’s son,
Tudor, intended to create a museum.
Thus, “warned and forced”, Opaschi had no other choice than to
move into the mansion.
In 1994, the courts acknowledged the
ownership right over this mansion to the rightful owners. At the same time, Somanescu illegally
gave the mansion to the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is
no other than Mircea Geoana, the present Minister of Foreign
Affairs.
The rightful owners of this mansion were
involved in legal proceeding to recuperate their confiscated home, but this
fact did not hinder Somanescu to give it to three of his friends, Eugen
Plesa, Jamal Kourbissa, and Victor Niculescu.
And since we are at this point, let’s discuss
Somanescu’s wealth. In 1994, Somanescu
was awarded the title of “revolutionary” which gives numerous advantages to the
holder. Somanescu has a
residence with 3 rooms at Ghermanesti, another residence with 4 rooms at
Otopeni, a mansion at Peris, an apartment on Caragea Voda Street, No. 9-11,
another apartment on Unirii Boulevard, No. 10/1/B5, another apartment on Unirii
Boulevard, No. 10/1/J5, and his old apartment from before 1989. The revolutionary Somanescu is the
owner of several parcels of prime land:
1000 square meters at Snagov, 5000 square meters at Peris, 1000 square
meters at Vidra, 2000 square meters at Ciorogarla, and 1000 square meters at
Otopeni.
But let’s continue with the “Apartamentul”
report and name some of those who illegally took advantage of luxury
residencies and bought them at very cheap prices from the state fund:
Victor Babiuc and wife Lucia on Libertatii
Boulevard, No. 20, 4 rooms.
Traian Basescu on Aviatorilor Boulevard, No. 57, 7 rooms,
290 square meters.
Silviu Brucan on Helesteului Street, No. 26, 7 rooms, 180
square meters (basement + ground level + first level + garage)
Radu Campeanu on Dorobanti Avenue, No. 45
Nicolae Cerveni on Nicolae Ionescu Street, No. 10
Traian Chebeleu on Dr. Lister Street, No. 63, 4 rooms
Eugen Dijmarescu on A. Vlaicu Street, No. 42-46, 6 rooms
Mircea Dinescu on Aviatorilor Boulevard, No. 69, 14 rooms,
346 square meters
"Cico" Dumitrescu on Herastrau Street, No. 4
Marian Enache on Cantemir Boulevard, No. 1, 4 rooms
Oliviu Gherman on Kiseleff, No. 20, 4 rooms
Viorel Hrebenciuc on Calea Victoriei, No.101,4 rooms
Cazimir Ionescu on Docentilor Street, No. 9 (basement
+ground level + first level + attic)
Dan Iosif on Calea Victoriei, No. 155, swapped his former residence on
Armindeului Street, No. 7 with this one
Mugur Isarescu on A. Vlaicu Street, No. 42-46, 4 rooms
Liviu Maior - Libertatii Street, No. 22
Ovidiu Musetescu on Th. Sperantia Street, 4 rooms
Adrian Nastase on Aleea Trandafirilor, No.4, after in 1991
he donated to his father-in-law, Angelo Miculescu, his residence on
Aviator Jean Texier Street, No. 4
Misu Negritoiu bought 4 rooms on Mexico Street, No. 2, after he sold his own
residence
Sergiu Nicolaescu occupied the ground level of the mansion on Zambaccian
Street, No. 21, plus 5 rooms basement as film studio
Andrei Paunescu lived with his father Adrian Paunescu on
Dionisie Lupu Street, No. 84, but Hrebenciuc gave him from RA-APPS,
3 rooms on Turda Street, No. 120/38/5
Dan Mircea Popescu received in 1991 from the President, an
apartment on Cantemir Boulevard, which he rented, then he swapped his residence
with his brother who subsequently bought the apartment. The same D. M. Popescu bought an
apartment on A. Vlaicu Street, No. 42-46 where he registered his mother who was
already renting a state owned residence.
Adrian Severin had a house Dr. Felix Street, No. 97, but he
requested another residence because the one he had “was not large enough to
fulfill his job”. He received a new
residence on Kiseleff, No. 24 and signed “I declare that I do not have another
residence”.
Nicolae Spiroiu bought the apartment on Unirii
Boulevard, No. 5 from the Ministry of National Defense which he then donated to
his children. He received another
residence on Aviatorilor, No. 102.
Teodor Stolojan already had a private property on Aleea
Callatis, No. 3, but he received and bought in installments 6 rooms on A.
Vlaicu Street, No. 42-46
Razvan Theodorescu was property owner on Hatmanul Arbore
Street, No. 3-7 (4 rooms) but he received another mansion (basement + ground
level + first level) on Herastrau Street, No. 35
Virginia Gheorghiu is spokesperson of the Government. Even though she already had a house, she
received a residence on Ilie Pintilie Boulevard, No. 4.
Alexandru Mironov
already had a house on Aleea Lotrioara, No. 10, but he received another
3 rooms on Calea Victoriei, No.153, which he subsequently bought.
Adrian O. Vasiliu
* one of the most exclusive residential areas, situated in North Bucharest near the lakes
** the miners were organized and ordered by the secret services to invade the city of Bucharest and to terrorize people in order to stop the democratic forces from gaining ground in the situation created after the revolution. The crimes committed were not investigated as of today. Iliescu as well as Constantinescu Governments prevented any disclosure of the truth.