Gigi Becali: the shiny boss of Steaua Bucarest gives way Chelsea tickets
ARSENAL fans bemoaning the limp, passion-free presence of the club’s owner ‘Silent’ Stan Kroenke should take a gander towards Steaua Bucurest, whose backer, Gigi Becali, is giving good press. In readiness for Steaua’s Europa League match against Chelsea, Becali pulls on a disco shirt, furls his tie into his shiny suit’s top pocket, dips his zircon in yellow gold and sat at a gilded desk, tosses away tickets.
Becali, an ardent nationalist who held a seat in the European Parliament and is now a Romanian MP, might be a prisoner:
The Supreme Court sentenced Romanian MP George Becali to three years in jail, with parole, for having kidnapped the people who had stolen his limousine…The court decided that eight years of parole will follow the three-year jail sentence. While on parole, Becali will have to respect several obligations imposed by the probation officer in his area. Becali’s bodyguards Ştefan Dediu, Cătălin Otto Zmărăndescu, Mihai Mila and Marcel Popa received similar sentences… In January 2009, Becali asked his bodyguards to find the people who had stolen his car – a Mercedes Maybach – and bring them to the bar at the headquarters of Becali’s party, the New Generation Party (PNG), in the Pipera area of Bucharest. Becali forced them to sign statements about having stolen the car and pledge that they would not report to the Police that they were chased down and forcefully taken to Pipera. One of the robbers was shot with a rubber bullet, which was removed from his leg at the Pipera bar.
In other news, last November:
A group of senior executives and management figures from Romania’s top football clubs have been sentenced to between three and eight years in prison for their part in a transfer case… Among those sentenced were FC Steaua general manager Mihai Stoica, who got four years in prison, Gloria Bistrita club president Jean Pădureanu got three years, FC Rapid majority shareholder and businessman George Copos, who received a five year sentence and former FC Dinamo shareholder Cristian Borcea was sentenced to seven years in jail. Also convicted were Steaua boss and MEP Gigi Becali’s cousins, brothers Ioan and Victor Becali. As well as jail time, the court also imposed bans from involvement in football and other probationary measures.
The case concerns irregularities in the transfer of football players between 1999 and 2005 from major Romanian teams Dinamo Bucureşti, Rapid Bucureşti, Gloria Bistriţa and Oţelul Galaţi. The 12 big international transfers also involved some well known clubs in the football world, such as Ajax of the Netherlands and English team West Ham United. Those sentenced were found guilty of carrying out illegal transactions during the transfers, which cheated the state out of USD 1.5 million and the ripped off the four Romanian clubs to the tune of USD 10 million.
In 2008:
The owner of Steaua Bucharest was cleared of match fixing allegations by Romania’s football arbitration court Thursday because of a lack of evidence…
The federation began an investigation into whether Becali had offered €1.7 million (US$2.6 million) to another team to fix the last match of the Romanian league to help Steaua win the title.
Becali denied planning to bribe players from another team. He said a suitcase containing the money discovered by anti-corruption officials was to be used to buy real estate in another city, not for bribes.
So, Mr Abramovich, about those windows…
Photo: Paintings depicting the owner of Steaua football club Gigi Becali, a former shepherd, are seen at his residence during an interview with the Associated Press in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, June 9, 2009. Romanian nationalist politician Gigi Becali has gone from a prison cell to a seat in the European Parliament in less than two months. But his seat looked uncertain Tuesday after a court upheld a travel ban on the flamboyant, religious politician, pending a criminal investigation into kidnapping charges. In an interview with the Associated Press, Becali, 50, vowed to stage “the mother of all shows” and travel to Brussels to take his seat for the nationalist Greater Romania Party whatever the outcome of the court ruling.
Posted: 4th, March 2013 | In: Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
