Gigi Becali: A shepherd, a billionaire, a football mogul and a warrior of the light walk into a bar
In terms of upward mobility, George “Gigi” Becali can be said to have done exceptionally well. It’s not often that a shepherd’s son grows to become the richest man in a country, especially when the country in question is none other than Romania, one of Europe’s poorest states. So how did he do it? What’s the recipe for success of this controversial Eastern European oligarch?
According to Becali, his faith in God played a decisive role.
“In the Byzantine Empire, the great kings were shepherds. And if you want me to quote the Bible, Jesus didn’t say I am your captain or your driver, but I am your shepherd. So in Romanian politics, I see myself as an apostle because I’m trying to do something no one has tried before”, he said.
However, evidence on the ground begs to differ. A shady businessman and populist politician following in the footsteps of Berlusconi, Becali has used wealth and football to climb his way to the top.
He was born in 1958 into an Aromanian family who had been deported to the southern part of the country by the Communist authorities. At the time, Aromanians were persecuted due to some of their members’ involvement in the Iron Guard — an extreme right movement — between the wars. However, his father managed to get rich by shepherding. After the fall of Communism in Romania, with the help of an inheritance and a loan taken from renowned football player Gheorghe Hagi, he invested heavily in real estate, and made a fortune.
In 2003, Becali bought football club Steaua Bucharest, one of Romania’s best-known teams. He steered it in the right direction. Since his arrival, Steaua won five league titles, several domestic cups and qualified for the Champions League. Resounding success with Steaua was what he was after from the very beginning:
I became rich, and when a man becomes rich, he wants to become famous. That is why I took over at Steaua. And I became famous.
Maybe fame was also what the Army was after when in 2006 it contested the way Becali had bought the club, claiming that ownership had been obtained with forged documents. After a tortuous legal battle, the Army eventually won: in 2014 a court ruled that Becali could no longer use the name and the visual identity of Steaua. The fan base was divided, attendance at games was severely reduced, and many chose to boycott the club as long as Becali stayed in charge. The case is still unfolding.
Fortune
So how rich is Becali? According to estimates made by Forbes Romania, in 2008 George Becali became the wealthiest man in Romania, with a fortune placed at between $2.8 and $3 billion. However, the daily Adevarul (owned by his then-competitor, Dinu Patriciu), placed his fortune, in fact, at only €700–750 million– number 7 in the ranking of the wealthiest Romanian. Apart from Steaua, Becali owns a gilded palace on 1 Alexandru Alley in downtown Bucharest, within walking distance from the Government, and countless real estate properties. Becali also has shares at the munitions factory Uzina Mecanica Dragasani, the poultry meat producer Avicola Iasi, and the construction firm Arco and the Arcom Group. He also owns 59% of the semiconductor manufacturing company Romes SA.
However, after the 2008 crisis the value of his fortune decreased, due to diminishing real estate prices and to Becali having transferred some of his assets to his daughters. In 2012, his fortune was estimated at a paltry €300 million euros.
Involvement in politics
Becali’s penchant for fame also led him to try his hand at politics. He was a member of the European Parliament between June 2009 and December 2012 and a member of the Romanian Parliament between December 2012 and his arrest in May 2013 (more on that later). During the time he spent at the European Parliament, he was the Romanian representative with the lowest attendance at plenary sessions. He only spoke five times and submitted one amendment, asked no question, made no resolution proposal, made no written declaration and drew up no reports.
In 2004 he also took over the New Generation Party (PNG), an extreme right, nationalist-Orthodox party and ran for President eventually winning 1.77% votes.
Convictions
Becali’s political career came to an end in 2013, when he was sentenced to a three-year prison term for bribing public servants to facilitate illegal land swaps. In June 1999 he had swapped two lands of 30 hectares with the Ministry for Defence, which resulted in an approximately $3 million gain in Becali’s favour. The lands had been claimed, so trades were forbidden by law. He was also convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence in 2013. He is being investigated and has been conditionally released in another bribery case. Five people affiliated with Becali were caught with a suitcase filled with 1.7 million euros, supposedly meant for a football team who had to ensure they would win a certain match. When asked about the money, Becali stated that it was meant for “buying candy”.
Controversies
Trying what no one has tried before seems to be the guiding mantra of this shepherd-cum-oligarch. Lately, Becali has managed to successfully reconcile his penal convictions and questionable business practices with his ultra-Orthodox religious beliefs, and his religious beliefs with racist, anti-Semite, homophobic and misogynistic comments that earned him a sweet spot in the press, including the international press. He claims that he is the warrior of the light, said he would donate his fortune to the Church and to hospitals after his death, has a picture of himself depicted as St John in his palace, and has published five books — 3 autobiographies and two treatises on Mount Athos, the Motherland of Orthodoxy and The Merciful, Redeeming Love.
Ultimately, the example of Gigi Becali can teach us all a valuable lesson — if you want to climb the social ladder in Romania, nothing can stand in your way. Not even God.
