AUR leader George Simion says he does not have a bank card and receives his money in cash at Parliament’s coffers, clarifying that he does not want anyone to access his details or track his payments.

George Simion in ParliamentPhoto: Inquam Photos / George Calin

Asked by Prima News’ Country Project: Romania program if he ever pays with a card, the AUR MP said he doesn’t because he doesn’t have a card and clarified that he gets paid in cash, News .ro notes.

“I don’t stand in line at the cash register, because there is no line,” he said, showing that he had filmed the moment he collects the payment.

“I wouldn’t want anyone who has access to this data to know where I went because it’s a matter of principle, I want to see if I can make a cash payment,” Simion also stated, adding that he pays for all in cash

George Simion also stated that “it is absolutely disgusting how the banks, first of all the Austrian ones, they are setting the tone, the private Romanian one was also preparing, they were preparing next week to raise commissions when they live very well only on the loans they give to the state”, also said the president of AUR, who received 141,148 lei last year, according to the property declaration, which is almost 12,000 lei per month.

Simion also said that he scolded his wife because her parents gave him a loan to buy an apartment. “He gave up that apartment, moved in with me, but took out a loan and hopefully will close it, talked to his parents to get it back. (..) At first she paid 800 lei, and now she pays 1500 lei, and in her place are hundreds of thousands of people who bought their houses, whom no one protects, because in Romania the prime minister and the president do not dictate, but the banks and casinos,” George Simion also said.

According to a June 2023 wealth declaration, Simion’s wife, Ilinka Valentina, bought a 45 square meter apartment in 2022 in Bucharest.

A 25-year-old man borrowed 210,273 lei from an Austrian bank for 30 years. In the declaration of wealth, it is not listed with income for 2022.

Last year, they received 400,000 euros as a wedding gift.