By Andrew Warshaw
March 6 – In his day he was one of the world’s best-known footballers during a stellar career that included spells with Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur and PSV Eindhoven. He was even tipped to become president of his national federation.
But now Gheorghe Popescu (pictured), who won 115 caps for Romania and helped lead them to the 1994 World Cup quarterfinals, has brought shame on his country after being jailed for just over three years for tax evasion and money laundering between 1999 and 2005.
The verdict was delivered by the Romania’s Court of Appeal after Popescu, among eight local football officials charged, had contested an earlier conviction. The court found that the state lost €1.7 million in taxes and clubs lost €10 million because those concerned registered false sums for the transfers of 12 players during the period stated. “The sentences cannot be appealed and are deemed final,” the court said.
Back in November, 2012, Popescu declared himself “totally clean” but prosecutors claimed he was involved in illicit dealings in the transfers of players to foreign clubs.
Popescu, now 46, was a key member of the Romanian side that competed at successive World Cup finals in 1990, 1994 and 1998. Sentences were also handed down to Steaua Bucharest’s general manager Mihai Stoica who was given three years and six months; former Rapid Bucharest owner George Copos who received three years and eight months; and former Dinamo Bucharest owner Cristian Borcea who was hit with a jail term of six years and four months.
The sanctions represent the heaviest sentences ever handed down in Romanian for corruption in football. Popescu, who won the 1997 Cup Winners Cup with Barcelona and league titles in Romania, Turkey and the Netherlands and was Romanian player of the year five times, received a three-year suspended sentence when the case was first heard but was jailed after a retrial.
According to local reports, parts of the transfer fees were paid into personal bank accounts in the Virgin Islands and in the Netherlands. Among the transfers involved in the scandal were those of international trio Nicolae Mitea, from Dinamo Bucharest to Ajax; Cosmin Contra from Dinamo to Spanish outfit Alaves; and Ionel Ganea from Gloria Bistrita to VfB Stuttgart.
Popescu had been widely tipped as being the new Romanian FA boss but within 24 hours of his conviction, Razvan Burleanu won the post, succeeding Mircea Sandu who had held it since 1990.
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