Romanian Politician Nati Meir Arrested For 29 Days Under Forgery Charges

Judges upheld prosecutors' request to issue a 29-days preventive arrest warrant for Meir, probed in connection with circulating forged currency and possession of forged currency with intent to circulate, forging foreign currency and bribery.

Meir said he would appeal the court ruling at the Bucharest Court of Appeals.

Prosecutors identified another person who concluded a lending contract with Meir, with real estate guarantees, and paid Meir a lending fee, via bank transfer. Prosecutors said Meir had no intention to actually lend the money but only wanted to cash the fee of nearly 50,000 lei (EUR1=RON4.2911).

The Organized Crime Department said Meir is suspected of defrauding three people during August - October, by concluding lending contracts whereby he would lend the beneficiaries EUR942,875 and EUR671,152, respectively. Two of the victims had mortgaged their homes as lending guarantee and before getting their loans, they were asked to pay RON70,500 and RON52,700 as "lending fees," which were transferred into bank accounts of Meir's firm.

One of the lawyers defending Meir recently said three people filed complaints against Meir, stressing one complaint targets the unfolding of a contract involving Meir's election campaign song for the upcoming presidential elections.

His lawyer said one of the three complaints was filed by the artist manager of popular manele singer Adrian Simionescu, known as Adi Copilul Minune, who accuses Meir of defrauding him of EUR50,000 Meir was supposed to pay in exchange for an election campaign song until December.

After backing out of the presidential race, Meir told Simionescu's manager that he wishes to terminate the contract, since the object of the contract was no longer valid, Meir's lawyer added.

Meir's lawyers said their client provided investigators, who personally handed over the subpoena to Meir, with goods and items to be further used as evidence in his case.

Romanian police officers on Tuesday raided the office of Meir's firm and confiscated 1,525 forged EUR500 banknotes, which he had used as deposits on various contracts, requesting fees to be transferred into his accounts.

Meir, who said he inherited over $2 billion from a relative in the USA whose identity was never disclosed, was found guilty in numberless cases of fraud in Tel Aviv and Haifa, Israel, in the 1980s and 1990s.

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