Former Deputy Director of the Romanian Army Secret Service Arrested

The former deputy director of the Romanian General Directorate for Defense Intelligence (DGIA), retired army general Iulian Cristian Gherghe, was arrested by the Romanian Military Court of Appeal for 30 days.

According to the military prosecutors, the former deputy director of the Romanian Army Secret Service was arrested for embezzlement. In fact, in November 2018, he withdrew without any right and for personal purpose 180,000 USD from the public funds of the institution.

The public money embezzled were then used to buy a piece of land and build a house near Bucharest.

The former deputy director admitted he was guilty and also partially returned the money. He told the prosecutors he took the money as a loan, but he wanted to return it altogether.

An incident like this, especially happening in a NATO member state, casts a shadow of doubt over one of the most important Eastern European partners within the alliance. Notably enough, to avoid the arrest of an active general at his level, the Romanian president retired Mr. Iulian Cristian Gherghe in February 2021, just a month ago, thus diminishing to a certain extent the damage to reputation of the Romanian Army secret service.