The former president of the Banca de Economii, Grigore Gacikevici, was detained on Wednesday in a case where he is being investigated for large-scale money laundering. Today, the court is expected to pronounce the sentence in another case, in which he is accused of granting non-performing loans that allegedly caused the Banca de Economii a damage of approximately three billion lei, reports IPN.

According to the National Anticorruption Center, during his tenure at the bank, Gacikevici allegedly received illicit remuneration for facilitating the granting of loans, and subsequently transferred money abroad, originating from criminal activity. He was placed in the CNA isolation ward for 72 hours.

In the case of non-performing loans, the former head of BEM is on trial alongside four former members of the bank’s lending committee. Prosecutors allege that between 2005 and 2012, they approved loans in violation of internal rules and banking prudence rules.

According to the accusation, the loans would have been granted without the proper assessment of the repayment capacity, based on incomplete files and without sufficient verification of the beneficiaries. Also, in some cases, the guarantees would have been insufficiently evaluated or monitored.

The prosecutors have requested 15 years of imprisonment for Grigore Gacikevici and 13 years each for the other four defendants, as well as the recovery of the estimated damage of approximately three billion lei.