EditPrivate flights raise questions over Romanian constitutional judge’s integrity
Two private flights to Nice and Mykonos in July brought together a constitutional judge, senior officials and businessmen
A Romanian Constitutional Court judge travelled on two private jet flights in July alongside politicians, senior business figures and public officials, including a businessman previously investigated by the country’s anti-corruption prosecutors, according to an investigation by Romanian investigative website PressOne, partner of EUalive.
The flights, operated by Toyo Aviation, took the passengers to the French Riviera resort of Nice and the Greek island of Mykonos. Several people travelled on both trips, including Constitutional Court judge Cristian Deliorga, Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIR) president Mihai Daraban and Constanța businessman Florin Cârstocea.
The circumstances surrounding the flights have raised questions about who financed them and whether accepting private travel alongside political and business figures could affect the appearance of judicial independence.
On 3 July, a Challenger 300 operated by Toyo Aviation flew from Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport near Constanța to Nice. Among those on board were Deliorga, Daraban and Cârstocea, together with members of their families, according to PressOne.
Cârstocea described the trip as a “private event”. Deliorga had previously confirmed to another Romanian publication, DeFapt, that he had travelled on a private aircraft with his family, but declined to say who had paid for the charter.
Neither Deliorga nor Daraban responded to PressOne’s requests for comment about the two trips.
Cârstocea is a wealthy businessman and property developer from Constanța, with interests in coastal real estate and renewable energy projects. His name appeared in a 2017 case investigated by Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), together with former Constanța mayors Radu Mazăre and Decebal Făgădău.
The case concerned the Riviera Residence Hotel, which Cârstocea developed on the basis of a building permit that prosecutors said had been issued in breach of legal requirements. The case was closed in 2021 because the statute of limitations had expired, while the permits issued by the municipality remained valid.
The second flight took place five days later.
On the morning of 8 July, an Embraer Legacy 600 operated by Toyo Aviation flew from Bucharest’s Băneasa Airport to Mykonos, carrying a group of Romanian politicians, judges, businessmen and senior officials.
Among those identified by PressOne were Deliorga, Mihai Daraban, Constanța Tribunal president Marius Cătălin Croitoru, former prime minister and current MP Victor Ponta, UDMR senator István-Loránt Antal, former transport minister Ovidiu Silaghi and Bogdan Mîndrescu, head of the company operating Bucharest’s airports.
Businessman Gruia Stoica, owner of the Grampet group, was also on the flight, according to PressOne. Stoica was convicted in 2016 and sentenced to two years and six months suspended imprisonment for buying influence, in a case involving an alleged attempt to obtain confidential information from state-owned freight railway operator CFR Marfă.
Stoica did not respond to PressOne’s requests for comment.
Antal confirmed that he had travelled to Mykonos on a private jet and said he had been invited by the Chamber of Commerce for discussions related to energy. He said he did not know all the other passengers and that the meeting lasted around one and a half to two hours, including a meal, before he returned to Romania.
Cârstocea also confirmed the trip. He said the flight had been paid for and organised by the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for a “bilateral meeting” concerning the activities of chambers of commerce.
CCIR gave differing accounts in its responses to Romanian media. Its press office initially told PressOne that it knew nothing about an event in Mykonos and that, if one had taken place, it had not been organised by the Chamber. In a response to HotNews, however, CCIR said the trip had been for a meeting with partners from outside Europe who were in the region at the time.
The Chamber stressed that it is a private-law institution and does not use public funds, saying its expenses, including foreign travel, are covered by its own revenues. Daraban separately acknowledged to G4Media that CCIR had paid for the Mykonos flight.
The presence of a Constitutional Court judge on the trip is particularly sensitive because of the court’s role in Romania’s political system. Deliorga is also known to have longstanding ties with Daraban. According to publicly available information cited by PressOne, Deliorga intervened with Daraban several years ago over the employment at CCIR of former prosecutor Adina Florea, who later became executive director of the Chamber’s legal department.
The source of the information about the flights is itself unusual. PressOne said it obtained flight and passenger data from a database belonging to Toyo Aviation that was allegedly hacked and offered for sale on the dark web on 17 August. The publication said it obtained information about Deliorga’s flights from the seller and independently verified its authenticity.
The cost of the two private flights remains unknown.
The full article in Romanian by EUalive’s partner PressOne can be read here.
Caption: The flight to Mykonos: Embraer Legacy 600, a luxury aircraft with a capacity of 13 people, costing over 27 million euros. /Toyo Aviation screenshot
Updated: September 8, 2026 - 05:48
