The Scandal of the Enormous Rent for the Director of ICR London Catinca Nistor
After information appeared in the public space regarding the enormous sum paid for the house rented by the director of ICR London at the time, Catinca Nistor, Bogdan Aurescu, who had left his position in the meantime, announced that he had requested checks. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs specified that from November 10, 2022, it ordered the termination of the rental contract of the apartment with residence status of the director of ICR London, Catinca Nistor. As of May 15, 2023, she completed her mandate at the head of ICR London.
“On January 6, 2023, ICR London sent the notice of termination of the contract to the rented house, located at 9 Egerton Gardens, floor 3, SW3 2BP, London. Following the termination of the contract, the residence of the director of ICR London was established in the Belgrave Square 1 building, where she actually moved. According to its clauses, the rental contract can effectively terminate after its termination, which has already been notified, as I have shown above, at the end of the first 12 months after its entry into force, without additional expenses”, stated the MFA at that time .
According to him, until the effective termination of the rental contract, the space was to be used for the temporary accommodation of people carrying out activities of a cultural nature, according to the programs and cultural projects approved by ICR London.
The development, modification and effective termination of the rental contract belong exclusively to ICR London and its director, who has the obligation to implement the provisions of the MAE Central.
“The amount paid for the residence of Mrs. Catinca Nistor, director of ICR London, was 38,870 pounds. At the same time, I mention that it is not necessary to pay compensations”, according to the MAE response signed by former minister Bogdan Aurescu.
Monthly Rents for the Offices of the Romanian Cultural Institutes Abroad
- ICR Beijing – 19,294 euros
- ICR Berlin – 6,061 euros
- ICR Budapest – 13,000 euros / Szeged branch – 470 euros
- ICR Lisbon – 3,300 euros
- ICR Madrid – 6,000 euros
- ICR Stockholm – 15,833 euros
- ICR Tel Aviv – 16,127 euros
- ICR Vienna – 7,417 euros
Romania owns the ICR headquarters in Brussels, Istanbul, New York, Paris, Prague, Rome, Warsaw and Venice.
The Amounts Paid for the Rented Houses
At ICR Beijing, Budapest, Lisbon, New York, Prague and Rome, no housing is rented for mission staff.
The ICR Brussels headquarters is the property of the mission. For the director’s apartment, the rent is 1,900 euros. And the deputy director and a referent have rented apartments.
At ICR Chişinău, the headquarters would be allocated on a reciprocal basis, but the deputy director and three referees live with rent, the amounts paid being 1,690 euros for the deputy director and 500, 750 and 1,200 euros for referees.
The ICR headquarters in Istanbul also belongs to the Romanian state, but the director’s residence is rented for 1,366 euros.
The ICR headquarters in London is concessioned, and the rent of over 6,000 pounds paid during Catinca Nistor’s mandate for her home has generated numerous controversies. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the total amount amounted to almost 40,000 pounds.
In Madrid, the rents are paid for two apartments intended for referents, the sums being over 1,000 euros.
In Paris, the headquarters is owned by the Romanian state, and the residence of the ICR director is rented for 3,300 euros. At ICR Paris, rents are also paid for the deputy director (2,670 euros) and for two referents (3,700 euros and 783 euros).
The director of ICR Stockholm lives in a house rented for 2,699 euros, and the house for the superintendent-driver is rented for 1,676 euros.
The director’s house in Tel Aviv is rented for 5,234 euros. Two referents also benefit from rented housing (2,178 and 1,839 euros). Also, a house is rented for “secretary – accounting”, for the amount of 2,263 euros.
The residence of the director of ICR Warsaw is rented for 1,694 euros, that of the director of ICR Vienna is 2,016 euros, and for the referent from ICR Venice – 1,399 euros.
