Despite an international arrest warrant, a convicted Bulgarian spy at the heart of Romania’s “Strategic Privatizations” scandal has been living freely for years in Dubai — well beyond the reach of Romanian justice. His whereabouts were uncovered earlier this year by a cross-border investigation led by the Bureau for Investigative Reporting and Data (BIRD.bg).
At the end of March 2009, DIICOT announced the indictment of several individuals who had formed a transnational criminal group in order to covertly privatize several state-owned companies.
Codruț Șereș, former Minister of Economy and Commerce and close associate of Dan Voiculescu, and Zsolt Nagy, former Minister of Communications and Information Technology, joined forces with several Romanian, American, British, Czech, Turkish, and Bulgarian citizens to commit serious crimes, according to DIICOT’s press release.
Gabor Kerekeș, UDMR vice-president, Dorinel Mihai Mucea, former deputy head of the Office for State Ownership and Privatization in Industry (OPSPI), and Mihai Radu Donciu, adviser to Nagy, were also part of the scheme aimed at defrauding the Romanian state.
They were joined by Mircea Călin Flore, senior director at Credit Suisse First Boston Europe Ltd in London (Romanian-British citizen), Vadim Don Benyatov (American citizen), Czech Michal Susak, Turk Mustafa Oral, and Bulgarian Stamen Todorov Stantchev. The last four are still listed on the Romanian Police’s wanted persons list.
The group members were sent to trial and convicted for treason through the transmission of state secrets, forming an organized criminal group, and complicity in espionage. Their illegal activities were linked to the privatization of Electrica Muntenia Sud, the sale of an 8% stake in Petrom, the privatization/restructuring of Romaero SA Bucharest and Avioane Craiova, consultancy related to the privatization of SN Radiocomunicații SA, the tender for restructuring and privatizing CN Poșta Română SA, and the selection of an international consultant for the IPO of the state’s 46% stake in Romtelecom.
In January 2015, former minister Șereș and Czech national Susak were each sentenced to four years and eight months in prison, while Flore, Mucea, and Benyatov received four years and six months. UDMR members Nagy and Kerekeș received four years each, Turkish citizen Oral Mustafa got three years, and adviser Donciu was sentenced to five years.
The longest sentence was handed to Bulgarian Stamen Stantchev: five years and two months for forming an organized criminal group, disclosure of classified or non-public official information, and complicity in this crime in continuous form. As mentioned earlier, Romanian police are still trying to bring Benyatov, Oral, Susak, and Stantchev to justice.
According to the Romanian Police website, Stantchev’s last known location was in Austria, where he operated a company. Romanian authorities could have searched for him there indefinitely. However, an investigative journalism team tracked the Bulgarian down in Dubai, where he is living comfortably.
According to BIRD.bg, Stantchev is renting an apartment in Dubai owned by Bulgarian businessman Georgi Samuilov, a close associate of Delyan Peevski, a controversial oligarch and politician from Bulgaria. In 2013, Peevski’s appointment as head of the Bulgarian National Security Agency sparked massive protests, forcing him to resign the next day. He has since been sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom for alleged acts of corruption and undue influence over public institutions, accused of using bribery and influence peddling to protect his interests and control key sectors.
Stantchev has reportedly been living in Dubai since 2018, while Romanian police continued to search for him across Europe. This information emerged from property ownership and rental data processed as part of the international “Dubai Unlocked” investigation. Stantchev pays Samuilov €25,900 per year in rent for a modest residence.
Un spion bulgar condamnat în România trăiește în Dubai. Poliția caută cai verzi pe pereți
In 2016, a year after the conviction became final, Interpol issued an arrest warrant for Stantchev, but the warrant is no longer active. Thus, the Bulgarian can only be detained if he sets foot on Romanian soil or if UAE authorities agree to a judicial request from Romania—something deemed highly unlikely. BIRD.bg contacted Georgi Samuilov, who declined to comment on Stantchev’s situation.
According to a 2006 article by Dimitar Ivanov in MediaPool cited by BIRD.bg Stamen Stantchev also worked for “Glencore”, the company of Swiss tycoon Marc Rich, which maintained a strong presence in both Bulgaria and Romania over the years.
In March 2015, an article titled “The Banker Network: Beneficiary of Dubious Restitutions, the Copper Banker Was Trained at the Kremlin Godfather’s School” was published. It revealed that controversial businessman Horia Șchiopu Simu, since convicted, received €103 million in state compensation for a plot of land after previously purchasing its litigation rights.
Simu’s ties to Ionuț Costea, the brother-in-law of politician and a two-time unsuccessful presidential candidate Mircea Geoană, are well-known. Costea was convicted of corruption, fled to Turkey, but was eventually captured and extradited. Since 2003, Simu and his business associates, known as “The Copper Bankers”, had been under the scrutiny of Romania’s National Office for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering (ONPCSB) and DIICOT prosecutors for money laundering.
The file forwarded by ONPCSB remained hidden in DIICOT prosecutors’ drawers for years, during the tenure of Alina Bica as a department head. Bica, a close friend of Elena Udrea (also sentenced), was herself convicted for aiding a businessman, but in 2023, Romanian courts recognized that she had served her sentence in Italy, and thus could no longer be incarcerated in Romania. She had also been tried and later acquitted in a case involving alleged bribery from Simu.
Simu and two close partners — dubbed The Copper Bankers — along with numerous local and offshore companies, including Amteck Investiții and Marc Rich – Co Investment AG, were named in an ONPCSB document regarding suspicious transfers of tens of millions of euros.
Marc Rich – Co Investment AG, mentioned in the ONPCSB documents, is a Swiss company tied to the Kremlin and was closely involved in the privatization of ALRO Slatina and UCM Reșița. Marc Rich, who had been sentenced to hundreds of years in the U.S. for various financial schemes, was pardoned by President Bill Clinton at the end of his term. Journalist Paul Klebnikov wrote about him in the book “Godfather of the Kremlin”. Shortly after the book’s release, Klebnikov was murdered in front of his home in July 2004. Marc Rich himself died in Switzerland in 2013, while still under investigation by U.S. federal authorities.