April 8 – One month after former Romanian footballing icon Gheorghe Popescu was jailed for tax evasion and money laundering, prosecutors have detained the one-time head of the country’s Professional Football League Dumitru Dragomir in connection with avoiding tax linked to the sale of broadcasting rights.
Local reports said Dragomir’s home was one of 11 searches conducted and that the wrongdoing allegedly carried out involved €3 million.
According to the Bucharest Police, the alleged crimes related to selling the tv rights in Romania’s first league between 2011 and 2013 using bogus accounts. Dragomir, chairman of the league from 1996 to 2013, maintains his innocence.
Last month, Popescu and several other officials were sanctioned after it was discovered that the state lost €1.7 million in taxes and that a number of clubs lost €10 million because those concerned registered false sums for the transfers of 12 players.
Back in November, 2012, Popescu had declared himself “totally clean” but prosecutors claimed he was involved in illicit dealings in the transfers of players to foreign clubs. According to local reports, parts of the transfer fees were paid into personal bank accounts in the Virgin Islands and in the Netherlands.
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