A Romanian court on Tuesday cleared eight prominent football officials and agents of corruption over the transfer of 12 players, including to clubs in Spain and Germany. The eight officials, including Rapid Bucharest owner George Copos and Dinamo Bucharest executive president Cristian Borcea, had been accused of fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. They had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The anti-corruption prosecutor's office (DNA) said the eight men had failed to pay taxes worth $1.5 million to the Romanian state and nearly $600,000 to the Romanian football federation. Four Romanian clubs also lost some $10 million in the 12 suspect transfers going back to 1999-2005, according to the prosecutors.
The transfers of Nicolae Mitea (from Dinamo Bucharest to Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam), of Cosmin Contra (from Dinamo Bucharest to Spain's Deportivo Alaves) and of Ionel Ganea (from Gloria Bistrita to Germany's VfB Stuttgart) were among the transfers that formed the charge sheet. The prosecutors argued that most of the sums raised from the transfers and not declared to the tax authorities, the federation or the clubs were placed in private accounts in the Netherlands and the Virgin Isles.
During the investigation Romanian prosecutors co-operated with counterparts in 17 countries, including Spain, Italy, China and the Netherlands. The DNA said it would appeal the judgement. The investigation which started in 2008 had been hailed by the media as a major step towards ridding Romanian footabll of corruption.
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