By Jaroslaw Adamowski
September 29 – The financial woes of Romanian top tier club Astra Giurgiu are set to continue as an application for an early release filed by its jailed owner, Romanian businessman Ioan Niculae (pictured), was recently rejected by a local court. Niculae is currently serving a sentence of 914 days, and, under Romanian law, to be granted an early release, he must serve at least 304 days.
The businessman was sentenced on April 2, 2015 for two-and-a-half years of prison for providing illegal funding to the electoral campaign of Mircea Geoana, the former president of Romania’s Senate, in 2009. In addition to this, we was also given a fine of RON 641,000 (€145,000).
Following Niculae’s imprisonment, local media have reported that the troubled club could be taken over by Gigi Becali, owner of Steaua Bucharest, who earlier this year was released from prison.
In addition to Astra, Niculae owns local agricultural and fertiliser group InterAgro and a number of other businesses. According to Forbes, he is the Romania’s richest person, with an estimated net worth of $1 billion (€893 million).
Despite its financial woes, Astra has performed well in the current season of Romania’s top tier Liga I, and is currently leading the table. The side owns its stadium which has a capacity of 8,500.
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