Dec 19, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
Two members of the Romanian Parliament were stopped at the Sculeni border crossing between Romania and the Republic of Moldova after they arrived in a stolen car.
The individuals are the former minister of labor, Marius Budăi, and PSD deputy Dan Constantin Șlincu. The car, registered in the latter's name, had been reported stolen by Belgian authorities since 2016.
Şlincu says his car was bought in 2015 from a man in Galaţi county and had its second registration in Romania. He also mentioned that he has left Romania every year in this car, but never had problems at the border, noting that this was his first trip to the Republic of Moldova in it. “There were no problems when leaving the country on Friday.
On the return, Saturday, December 16, my car was
retained. This car was bought in 2015 and registered in Romania. I bought it
from someone in Galaţi, from an advertisement on a car sales website. I
registered it in my name and everything was in order,” Dan Şlincu said, cited
by Digi24.
Şlincu intends
to take action against the person who sold him the car. Marius Budăi, the
former minister of labor, says he was a passenger in the car, but that his
colleague’s documents are in order.
“It's a
very serious issue and I will have a very serious discussion with experts from
the Ministry of the Interior, because it seems very serious that for eight
years this car was reported stolen and the owner, who bought it in good faith,
was not informed,” he said.
“I thought
it was a joke. Honestly, I thought it was a joke, because it never crossed my
mind. My colleague initially laughed, then, of course, the customs and border
police officers came, informed us of the situation, and we asked if
procedurally we could hand over the car in Botoșani, to continue our journey. We
were informed that we couldn’t,” he added.
The car, an
Audi A6, was registered in 2015 in the name of the parliamentarian Dan
Constantin Şlincu and was reported stolen by Belgian police a year later. Last
night, the two politicians also presented their diplomatic passports, but the
Border Police decided to stop the car for further checks.
Romania Insider