San Francisco Frontiers - France detains alleged Romanian royal wanted in home country

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France detains alleged Romanian royal wanted in home country

ECONOMY 07.04.2025

France detains alleged Romanian royal wanted in home country / Photo: © AFP

A French court on Monday detained an alleged member of Romania's royal family who is wanted at home on charges of influence peddling, a judicial source said.

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Paul Philip Al Romaniei, also known as Paul of Romania, is the target of a European arrest warrant.

"Paul of Romania was incarcerated" after a hearing at the Paris Appeals Court on Monday, the source said.

The source said another hearing would be held in the court's extradition chamber on Wednesday.

A Romanian court in 2020 sentenced Paul to three years and four months in jail after finding him guilty of working with a gang of con artists to recover properties he claims are his as the heir to the last-but-one king, Carol II.

The affair is believed to have cost the Romanian state 145 million euros.

Paul has denounced a "political" decision.

The 76-year-old, who has British, French and Romanian citizenship, sought refuge in France, which in November 2023 rejected a Romanian extradition request.

He was arrested when he visited Malta in April last year, but a court on the Mediterranean island ordered his release in August, saying his human rights could be violated in Romania.

Paul's father Carol Mircea Grigore, born in Romania in 1920, was an illegitimate son of Carol II, who ruled from 1930 until he abdicated in 1940 in favour of his younger son, Michel I.

The royal family was expelled from Romania in 1947 by the Communists, and all its properties confiscated.

Paul's father was recognised as Carol II's son in Portugal and France in 1955 and 1963, but the link was acknowledged by Romania only in 2012.

Paul himself returned to live in the country in the 1990s.

But Michel, the country's last king, did not acknowledge him as part of the royal family before he died in 2017.

K.Hernandez--SFF

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