Alexander Adamescu

Alexander Adamescu is a German writer and businessman (6 May 1978 - ). His arrest in June 2016 and ongoing attempts by the Romanian government to extradite him from the United Kingdom on charges of alleged bribery has generated international media attention, triggering both official and unofficial inquiries into allegations of politically motivated prosecution, high-level corruption and abuse of process.
His father, Dan Adamescu, died in hospital after contracting sepsis at the notorious high security Rahova Prison, where he was serving four years for bribery. The circumstances surrounding his death on 24 January 2017 drew the attention of international journalists, human rights advocates and politicians from across the political spectrum in Romania, including an intervention from Romania’s former President who claimed that Dan Adamescu was killed by the “contempt for life of prosecutors and judges”.
Education and Career
Born on 6 May 1978, Adamescu was educated at the Humboldt University of Berlin, and later at Paris-Sorbonne University and the French grande ecole ENSAE.
His professional career began as a Research Fellow in Stochastics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University in 2005. In 2005/6 he joined the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company as an Associate, before later joining the Board of Directors of his family’s company, The Nova Group, where he served for 6 years.
In addition to Prime Minister Ponta’s televised allegations, according to Fair Trials International, a number of judicial statements were made in the course of Dan Adamescu’s pre-trial detention proceedings which “failed to respect the presumption of innocence”.
In a decision to detain Mr Adamescu, the judge referred to “the seriousness of the illegal actions committed by him” describing them as facts rather than as yet unproved allegations.
At an appeal hearing challenging his detention, the Court of Cassation cited as one of its main reasons for denying the appeal the fact that “the defendant continue to deny committing the crimes of which they stand accused and to challenge the existence of any evidence that justifies a reasonable suspicion that they did, in fact, commit these crimes.”
Alexander Adamescu Accused by Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate
According to the human rights lawyer Eeva Heikkila, “Alexander Adamescu is accused by Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) of consenting to bribery based on the declarations of a sole prosecution witness.”
“Romanian courts issued two national arrest warrants against Alexander Adamescu: a first warrant on 4 May 2016 which was cancelled on 19 May and a second arrest warrant that was issued on the very same day, 19 May 2016 and then converted into a European Arrest Warrant on 6 June 2016.”
Adamescu’s wife, Adriana Constantinescu, standing in for her husband on the panel said: “We’ve been taken by surprise and are very shocked. We’ve come here to present our case, and to talk about the injustice and everything we’ve been through in the last few years.” Mr Adamescu’s health undoubtedly deteriorated as he languished in a prison system described as dating from the Middle Ages.”
On Christmas Day 2016, Dan Adamescu was taken from jail to hospital. On 24 January 2017, he died of blood poisoning at the age of 68 “under prison conditions without his son being able to visit him.”
Willy Fautre, Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers, whose organization highlights human rights abuses around the world, said Dan Adamescu’s death while in detention “sheds once again some tragic light on the appalling prison conditions” in Romania which, he says, have been denounced “year after year” by the European Court of Human Rights.
Former President of Romania, , claimed that Dan Adamescu should have been released from jail earlier due to his illnesses:
“The DNA prosecutors had all the medical papers of the man, the papers that proved the critical health situation. However, they continued to ask for him to remain in jail. Moreover, his health situation worsened by the disease he got in jail. In addition, the judges, who had the same papers, but who were obedient and frightened by the pressure of the DNA prosecutors, kept him in jail although the man was weakened by the disease.”
International Arbitration
In August 2015, Alexander Adamescu on behalf of his family’s company, The Nova Group, launched an international arbitration case against Romania, “demanding compensation for the systematic destruction of its investments in Romania, among which were Romanian insurance company Astra Asigurari and , an independent newspaper.”
The case is being heard by the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) based at the World Bank in Washington. Romania has been a signatory to the ICSID’s ‘Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes’ since 1974.
The decision by Romania to launch a European Arrest Warrant for Alexander Adamescu’s extradition several months after the arbitration was filed “drew international condemnation from academics, politicians and journalists who decried Romania’s alleged failure to respect due process and who were concerned by the apparent political motivations for the move.” In its decision to order Romania to withdraw the warrant, and in rejecting Romania's request for reconsideration of the decision, the tribunal acknowledged what it called Adamescu's "essential importance to the fair conduct of the arbitration."
Roger Boyes, Diplomatic Editor of The Times, reporting on the request to extradite Alexander Adamescu said, “A European arrest warrant has been issued against him even though there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing; indeed our judges are supposed only to check that the paperwork is in order.”
Writing in The Guardian, David Clark - a former special advisor to Labour Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, claimed, “The only evidence against the younger Adamescu appears to be that he has continued to campaign for his father.”
In The Telegraph, Senior Reporter Patrick Sawer, reported that “Campaigners claim the case of Alexander Adamescu shows that unscrupulous foreign politicians can exploit the British justice system to pursue their own agenda.”
Graeme Leach, Chief Economist of Macronomics writing in City AM, commented, “Anyone familiar with this case becomes very angry, not just for Dan Adamescu, but for his son as well (who is living with his family in London). Romania has issued a European Arrest Warrant for Alexander Adamescu, in gross violation of key tenets of Romanian and international law. The entire process stinks, and was accompanied by a raid against the businesses the Adamescus led.”
Calls for Reform of the European Arrest Warrant
The Adamescu case has been cited by several journalists, politicians and academics - both by those calling for reform of the European Arrest Warrant and others urging the UK to withdraw from it.
Stephen Pollard, Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, claims the Adamescu case is “The case that shows why we must not stay in the European Arrest Warrant” urging that “Unless Brexit means Brexit on this one, good people could be imprisoned by bad regimes”.
David Davies, Member of Parliament for Monmouth, stated his view in a debate on post-Brexit security and law enforcement in the House of Commons that “it is absolutely right that we use Brexit as an opportunity to renegotiate the whole system, and to work with countries that apply our systems of justice but to state with the utmost respect that we are unwilling to sacrifice the human rights of people like Alexander Adamescu in order to maintain membership of the EAW.”
A joint report by The Hampden Trust in association with The Freedom Association and Economic Policy Centre examined the issues arising from the Romanian anti-corruption drive. It cited the treatment of the Adamescu family as an example of the need for reform of the EAW system:
“In future, extraditions to Romania under the European Arrest Warrant should receive additional legal scrutiny from extraditing countries such as the United Kingdom; particularly around the matters of fair trials, political interference in the legal process and assurances over human rights for those being extradited.”
David Clark, former special advisor to Labour Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, claimed in an essay for The Fabian Society that, “Adamescu angered the Romanian authorities by repeatedly challenging their treatment of his father, so they orchestrated his arrest… No evidence of criminal wrongdoing has been presented and none is needed under the EAW… The fact that the EAW mechanism can be used by foreign governments to pursue political grudges and suppress free speech on British soil shows that a successor agreement is needed that will include stronger human rights safeguards.”
Calls for Reform of Romanian Justice System
The Adamescu case has been referred to by senior journalists, academics and think tanks as an indication of the need for major reform of the Romanian justice system.
According to The Times, “his case has fuelled concerns that Romania, which joined the European Union in 2007, risks slipping inexorably back into the repression of ’s communist regime.”
A report for the Henry Jackson Society - Fighting Corruption with Con Tricks: Romania’s Assault on the Rule of Law - cites the Adamescu case as an example of the Romanian anti-corruption drive “providing convenient cover for acts of political score settling and serious human rights violations. The methods used show a considerable degree of continuity with the practices and attitudes of the communist era.”

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