Adrian Sarbu, under preventive arrest for 30 days

The judges of the Bucharest Court of Appeals have decided, early Wednesday morning, to dispose the preventive arrest, for 30 days, of Adrian Sarbu, who is charged in the tax evasion case of the Mediafax Group.

Photo credit: (c) Grigore POPESCU / AGERPRES PHOTO

The court's decision is not definitive.

Adrian Sarbu was remanded in custody on Monday by prosecutors, being charged with committing tax evasion (two counts), money laundering (two counts), and instigation to embezzlement.

The prosecutors of the General Prosecutor's office claim that at the request of Adrian Sarbu, defendants Liliana Serban, Roxana Dorina Grigoruta, Eugenia Balan (under arrest in a different case), Sorin Dinu, Daniela Reghina Cozac, Rodica Crisbasan and Dragos Chis, together with Diana Atanasiu and Dragos Eremia, have established a crime scheme for the purpose of avoiding tax payments to the state budget, scheme that involved several companies running fictitious operations, in the 2011-2014 interval, in relation to the beneficiaries of royalties of the companies of Mediafax group (SC Mediafax Grup SA, SC Mediafax SA, SC Apropo Media SRL).

Adrian Sarbu owns 87 percent of the shares of SC Alerria Management Company SA, a company who owns 99,41378% of SC Mediafax SA, 95% of the shares SC Apropo Media SRL and 50% of SC Mediafax Group SA (the rest of 50 percent being split equally between SC Mediafax SA and SC Apropo Media SRL).

The prosecutors have shown that although Sarbu did not fill any positions within these companies, it can be said, in fact, that he held control of all companies in the group, "his decisions being imposed as laws would be".

"In this context, within meetings for company budgets, in which he took part, defendant Sarbu Adrian...