General Pahonțu, SPP director: property four times larger, omissions in declarations over 15 years
Snoop investigation reveals that the SPP director failed to declare land for at least seven years, whilst the family property expanded from 200 to 875 square metres.
General Pahonțu's property: undeclared land, donations and unregistered extensions
General Lucian Pahonțu, director of the Protection and Guard Service (SPP), declared the same property surfaces for his house and land for 15 years, whilst the family property expanded more than fourfold. According to Cotidianul.ro, an investigation published by Snoop on 10 November 2026 documents acquisitions, family donations, an extension to the villa and a swimming pool without apparent building authorisation.
Land omitted from declarations for at least seven years
Snoop claims that General Pahonțu failed to declare land for at least seven years, thereby breaching the law on integrity in the exercise of public functions and positions. The land purchased in 2001 appeared in wealth declarations only in 2010. From that date until now, the figures have remained unchanged: a house of 186 square metres and land of 200 square metres.
The total property surface reached 875 square metres, compared to the 200 square metres constantly mentioned in declarations. The villa doubled its surface area, from 179 to 397 square metres, following works authorised in 2023. In the property courtyard, a 110 square-metre structure called a "summer kitchen", a 14 square-metre storage building and a swimming pool have also appeared. The swimming pool does not feature in documents filed at the Town Hall and consulted by the publication, although legislation treats it as a farm building and requires authorisation.
Contradictory data from the earliest declarations
The discrepancies date from 2005, when Pahonțu moved from the Gendarmerie to the leadership of the SPP. In the wealth declarations filed that year — both from the former position and from the new position — the Bucharest house appears with a surface area of 86 square metres and as having been purchased in 2000. Documents consulted by Snoop, however, indicate a purchase agreement from 2001, a total surface area of 179 square metres and an associated plot of 200 square metres according to the documents, or 187 square metres according to the cadastral records.
In the 2008 declaration, the built-up area of the house suddenly increased from 86 to 186 square metres, and the registered owner was a person named Ileana Pahonțu, who does not appear in the cadastral documents consulted by the publication. Only in the 2009 document does Lucian Pahonțu appear as owner, in equal shares with his wife, Mihaela Elena Pahonțu.
Snoop notes that the General's wealth declarations from 2006 and 2007 are not available on the websites of the SPP or the National Integrity Agency (ANI). When asked by the publication, the ANI refused to provide them, citing a 2025 Constitutional Court decision which eliminated the obligation to publish them and, in the agency's interpretation, also prevents access to old declarations not previously published.
Donations and transfers between parents and son
Two adjacent plots of land were added to the initial lot, bringing the total surface to 875 square metres. Of this surface, Lucian Pahonțu and his wife currently own 270 square metres; the remainder belongs to their son and daughter-in-law, who work in London, according to CVs cited by Snoop.
The SPP director's son committed in writing in 2016 to purchase a plot of 411 square metres from the family's neighbours for the sum of 163,000 euros. At that time, the young man was 23 years old and was a student in England. He paid a deposit of 65,000 euros, with the remainder to be paid in four instalments until 2019. Between 2019 and 2021, when he completed payment, he was already working in the banking sector in London.
In July 2022, the son donated the 411 square metres to his parents, valued for tax purposes at 100,886 euros, after the land had been divided into two plots. The donation took place just over a month after the SPP director filed his annual wealth declaration — which is why the plots do not appear in the 2022 document.
Previously, during the period when the 411 square-metre plot belonged to the Pahonțu couple — almost 11 months — they extended the villa, after which they donated the new apartment and a share of the land to their son. The transfer took place between the filing of two consecutive wealth declarations, without these property movements being recorded, according to the Snoop investigation.
General Pahonțu's response
When contacted by Snoop, Lucian Pahonțu stated, through the SPP spokesperson, that he "filed wealth and interest declarations annually and within the legal deadline" and that the data entered "faithfully reflect the legal situation of the property" held at the date of completion of the documents. The General refused to answer specifically to questions regarding the omissions from declarations, the lack of authorisation for the swimming pool and the reason why, over 15 years, he failed to declare any bank account.
Snoop specified that it decided not to publish elements that could allow the property to be located, given Pahonțu's position and the risks associated with his profession. The publication maintains that the public interest in the investigation concerns how the SPP director respected his legal declaration obligations, not the property address.
The same discrepancies also in the wife's declarations
Snoop notes that similar problems regarding surfaces and the year of purchase also appear in the wealth declarations of the General's wife, Mihaela Elena Pahonțu, deputy dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at "Carol Davila" University between 2018 and 2024. The discrepancies make it difficult, according to the publication, to track the evolution of the family property over time.
Source: Cotidianul.ro