The president of the CJ Călăraşi, the social democrat with a background in the PNL, Vasile Iliuță, bought in a single year properties worth over one million euros in Italy, all following foreclosures of some bankrupt Italian companies. But the surprise purchase is in the Apennine mountains: a former customs point that now bears his name. “La Gabellina Iliuță” is a tourist complex bought in 2023 for only 70,000 euros, according to a Public Record investigation. In the same period, in Romania, the PSD baron was tried by the DNA for abuse of office and threatening a prosecutor. Iliuta claims that he made the purchases with the money obtained from his agricultural businesses and not from his public office.
“La Gabellina Iliuță” is a tourist complex in the commune of Ventasso, located in a spectacular mountain area that connects Tuscany with the province of Emilia-Romagna, in Italy. The PSD baron and his wife paid only 70,000 euros, although the former owners had invested 800,000 euros in the renovation, according to the quoted source.
Before the tourist complex in the Apennines, the Iliuță couple bought a 730 square meter hotel building in the Alps, with a floor and an attic for 80,000 euros. After two years, Vasile Iliuță sold it to the son of a mayor from Călărași, which he likes, for the same price.
The third property is a three-star hotel in Rimini, located on the Adriatic coast of Italy and purchased for almost one million euros. The politician’s 24-year-old son is in charge of managing the business.
Documents obtained by Public Record show that all three properties entered the family portfolio in 2023 through foreclosure transactions of bankrupt Italian firms.
In the same period, Vasile Iliuță was sent to court by the DNA for abuse of office and threatening a prosecutor. He was finally acquitted in 2024. Also then, the prosecutors sent him to court in another case, regarding security contracts paid from public money, with a damage of over 580,000 lei.
What does the politician say?
In his defense, the politician claims that the money used for the three properties came from his farming business.
“The properties referred to were purchased in 2023 from the dividends related to 2022, income that can be found in my wealth declaration. I was a businessman before I was a politician, and what I have built over more than 30 years of work cannot be erased by attacks or political disputes”, wrote the president CJ Călărași on Facebook.
Vasile Iliuță entered the local administration in 2000. In the more than two decades of his political career, he moved from the PDL to the PNL, and now he is in the PSD.
