Romania’s convicted Prince Paul Phillipe wanted in Romania over an illegal land restitution has been located at a report on the island of Malta, judicial sources told News.ro.
Romanian Justice Minister Alina Gorghiu said on April 25 that she still has no answer from her French counterpart regarding Prince Paul’s situation after his extradition to Romania was rejected by the French judiciary due to a procedural defect. „I expect that the minister will be able to ask the system what happened in that case,” Gorghiu said.
The latest came development came after a joint operation between Romanian police and Maltese police. No further details were available.
Romania’s justice ministry presented a situation of persons wanted or wanted for the execution of sentences ordered by Romanian courts in May 2023, including the countries in which they are located.
The ministry says Prince Paul is wanted internationally based on a European arrest warrant issued by the Brasov Court of Appeal on 18 December 2020 to serve a sentence of 3 years and 4 months for influence peddling and complicity in abuse of office.
Prince Paul Phillipe of Romania also known as Paul Lambrino was located in France and briefly held in pre-trial detention in Paris before he was released on bail.
Lambrino, 76, has refused to be extradited to his home country saying that the case against him is political.
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.
France to decide on extraditing Paul of Romania after corruption conviction
