The son of the well-known Romanian businessman Dan Adamescu has engaged the international lawyer Robert Amsterdam to fight back against the politically motivated persecution by the government of Romania.
Alexander Adamescu was arrested in London on 13 June 2016 before he was due to speak at a conference on the abuses of Eastern European countries of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). Romania issued precisely such an EAW against Alexander Adamescu after being informed of his presence at the conference. Alexander Adamescu, who lives in London with his partner and three small children since 2012 and works as a playwright, denies all allegations raised by Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA).
“Romania’s persecution of Mr. Adamescu represents an egregious example of the abuse of state power by private interests, driven by motivations that have nothing to do with rule of law, anti-corruption and more to do with suppressing freedom of expression,” said Mr. Amsterdam, who in the past has represented political prisoners such as Russia’s Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
“It is very interesting that the DNA completely ignored any involvement of Alexander Adamescu in this case until Romania was slapped with an £500 million arbitration claim for the destruction of a group of companies controlled by Mr Adamescu, TNG- The Nova Group, which include Romania’s liberal newspaper România Liberă and one of Romania’s largest insurance companies Astra Asigurari. As a reaction to the arbitration, it appears as though the DNA is attempting to apply pressure against Dan Adamescu with mafia-like tactics.”
Amsterdam says that he sees many parallels between Romania’s resurgent prosecutorial state and the recent abuses by the current Russian government.
“There is not only a clear economic motivation for the DNA to persecute this family and take away their businesses, but also a reprehensible attack on freedom of expression, as certain individuals within the Romanian government have sought to destroy the newspaper România Liberă by going after its financiers.”
Amsterdam believes that the United Kingdom and Germany have been fooled by the Romanian government into believing this is a positive step for anti-corruption prevention in Romania. This is clouded by the involvement of firm KPMG.
“The Romanian state – through its professional-pawn KPMG, has deliberately mislead the United Kingdom and Germany by pretending this is about anti-corruption. A closer examination would reveal a Romanian elite scared of a newspaper serving only to hold the Romanian government accountable”.
Amsterdam, the founding partner of Amsterdam & Partners LLP, says that Alexander Adamescu is exploring a number of international legal avenues to shine a light on the corrupt practices of the Romanian prosecutors in this case, which have a negative impact on the country’s overall environment for rule of law.
Amsterdam & Partners LLP is an international law firm with offices in London and Washington DC. More information about this case can be found on robertamsterdam.com.
press release: 11th October, 2016