French Court Clears Romanian Businessman Sever Muresan Of Attempted Murder Charges

The High Correctional Court of Lille, France, has ruled early March to clear Romanian businessman Sever Muresan in a case in which he faced charges of plotting and ordering the murder of his former employee, Swiss national Peter Rolf Gehrig.

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The French court found Muresan not guilty on all counts, which is the most recent ruling in a long and complex series of files, complaints, setups and trials that set off back in 1995, according to a press release issued by Muresan's daughter, Julia.

Head of Romania's largest business group SM Invest back in the 1990s, Muresan has brought his contribution to developing and promoting Romania abroad, mainly by establishing close ties with the United Stats and former U.S. President George Bush, who was invited by Muresan and SM Invest to capital Bucharest in 1995, the press release also reads.

Muresan has been arrested several times in Romania, France and Switzerland and served nearly four years in prison between 1996 and 2008.

Muresan was found not guilty in each of these trials, namely, in 2003, the Constanta Court cleared Muresan of charges of fraud and abuse of office in the case of Dacia Felix bank; in 2008, the Court of Appeals in Lyon, France, cleared Muresan of embezzlement charges and in March 2010, the High Correctional Tribunal of Lille cleared Muresan in the case involving Rolf Gehrig. The ruling of the Lille court puts an end to nearly 15 years of investigations and judicial proceedings, according to the press release.

In November 2000, Muresan was sentenced to three and a half years in prison by the Geneva Correctional Court in a case regarding the $25 million defrauding of Dacia-Felix.

Muresan was arrested for tax evasion in France. In March 2004, Muresan was convicted to 18 months in jail in France.

In February 2008, the Lyon Court of Appeals cleared Muresan from paying taxes for the years 1994 and 1995 to the French state, repealing the decision of the Dijon Court, and ruled that Muresan is to receive damages of EUR4,000.

Muresan was placed on the international wanted list on February 6, 2007 on charges of attempted murder, money laundering, forgery and use of forgery, all carried out in France.

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