Dinel Staicu, from 90's big shot to being on police "wanted list"

Staicu, one of the best-known figures of the Romanian capital market, is one of the few "big shots" to have received a final sentence of imprisonment for defrauding a bank, although in the past 20 years there have been a large number of resounding bankruptcies of financial institutions. The press has filled tonnes of paper writing about those who stole from banks, be they state-owned or private, but those who received imprisonment sentences are very few.

Staicu was sentenced by the Bucharest Court of Appeal on April 4th 2011 to serve seven years in prison for defrauding Banca Internaţională a Religiilor (International Bank of Religions - BIR), with the loss caused to the bank between 1999 and 2000 being estimated at 187 billion ROL (around 9.3 million euros at the then exchange rate), and the sentence being final and irrevocable.

BIR went bankrupt in 2000. The lending institution was founded by Ion Popescu, president of BIR, sentenced alongside Staicu to seven years in prison.

Dinel Staicu was not found by police seeking his arrest at his residential address or at the companies where he is a shareholder, with the police issuing a national all-ports warning.