A Bucharest court sentenced Ioana Maria Vlas, one of the main figures in a major financial scandal that hit Romania years ago, to seven years in prison on Thursday. The same court sentenced another key figure in the case to 18 years behind bars, but the man, Nicolae Popa, is missing.
The Bucharest Tribunal ordered Ioana Maria Vlas, the former president of Sovinvest, Nicolae Popa and several companies – SC Sovinvest SA, the Commercial Bank Ion Tiriac, the Savings House (CEC), SVM, Gelsor SA as well as the National Equity Commission to pay 40 billion ROL to the 13,000 people who lost their savings in a financial scheme known as the FNI case.
Ioana Maria Vlas was charged with embezzlement as president of SC Sovinvest by frauding 13,000 investors of the FNI fund. She was arrested two years ago when she turned herself in after a period spent abroad.
