A Paris court will decide this week whether to extradite Paul Lambrino, known as Paul of Romania, a relative of the late King Michael who was handed a 40-month prison sentence in the case of the illegal restitution of large plots of land in northern Bucharest.
Lambrino, 75, has refused to be extradited to his home country after being arrested in France last year, saying that the case against him is political.
In December 2020, he was convicted to three years and 4 months in prison for influence peddling, money laundering and bribery.
He was accused of having worked with a criminal gang between 2006 and 2013 to recover properties he claimed as heir to the Romanian royal family, including the Snagov forest and the Baneasa farm.
A total of 18 people were convicted in the same case. Prosecutors, who said that Lambrino had no right to the properties, estimated that the damage made to the state was of about 145 million euros.
He fled the country before the conviction and was arrested in France in June 2022. In early October, he refused to be handed over to Romanian authorities.
“I have done nothing illegal or incorrect, I trust France to get me out of this nightmare,” he said. “I’m accused because I’m considered the heir of my grandfather,” Euronews reported.
Lambrino’s father Carol Mircea Grigore fought hard to be recognized as the legitimate heir to Carol II, who ruled from 1930 to 1940 before abdicating to his son Michel I.” Lambrino’s father was considered illegitimate.
Romania became a republic after the communists came to power and Michael was forced to abdicate in 1947. The royal family’s properties were confiscated.
Lambrino has French, British and Romanian nationalities. He moved to live in Romania in the early 1990s, but was estranged from his uncle Michael and familu. Michael died in 2017.
Romania issues international arrest warrant for Prince Paul after property fraud conviction
