Patriciu's business activity was marred by legal troubles, being charged with defrauding the state, money laundering and illegally manipulating markets,[1] but he successfully withstood the investigations into allegedly corrupt privatization deals.
He won several architecture awards and he was involved in building projects in Romania and in the United Arab Emirates, including a palace in Abu Dhabi.
[8] The following year, Patriciu's company began buying land in a northern district of Bucharest to build an apartment complex.
[8] As of 2012, his Dinu Patriciu Global Properties company owned real estate (office and commercial buildings) worth an estimated $1 billion in Germany and Romania,[8] as well as 25 residential projects in the United Arab Emirates.
The €570 million debt of Rompetrol to the Romanian state was converted in 2003 into bonds by the Adrian Năstase Government.
[10] Dinu Patriciu sold 75% of the shares in Rompetrol to Kazakhstan's KazMunayGas for $2.7 billion in 2007, becoming the richest Romanian.
[12] In May 2006, following an interrogation, Dinu Patriciu was arrested for 24 hours, being accused of tax evasion, money laundering and fraud.
[13] Patriciu accused the prosecutors of "serving a reactionary interest group represented by General Ioan Talpeș and former president Ion Iliescu".
[13] The Prosecutors' Body issued a communiqué in which they decried "a gross interference of political parties in the case", arguing that "the fight against corruption must be carried to the end".
[15] Băsescu said that he did not make the note public earlier because he wanted to avoid derailing the negotiations for EU admission.
[15] The Prime Minister admitted he sent the note, but claimed he just wanted the President to make sure that investigations were carried out correctly.
[14] The Court of Appeals sentenced in 2014 several of his associates to prison, including PNL Senator Sorin Roșca Stănescu and Alexandru Bucșa, a former vice-president of Rompetrol Netherlands.