Bucharest’s mayor under arrest

The magistrates of the Bucharest Tribunal on Sunday ruled in favour of the temporary arrest of the Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu, who is accused by anticorruption prosecutors of bribe taking.

Mihai Pelin, 07.09.2015, 13:20

Bucharest’s
mayor Sorin Oprescu is in 30-day temporary custody, pending trial, for bribe taking. The ruling, while not
final, is nevertheless executory. Sorin Oprescu has been detained after
receiving a tranche of 25,000 euros of a total of 60,000 which he allegedly
requested from four persons through one of his subordinates, who mediated the
bribe.

One of the four
people who reported on Oprescu said he gave the mayor 1 million euros between
2013 and 2015. According to investigators, the mayor received the bribe at his
home near Bucharest, where he had taken Mafia-style precaution measures. He
would meet his visitors in a gazebo in the garden, with everybody leaving their
phones in a jamming device when discussing business to make sure they aren’t
tapped, the person who reported on Oprescu also said.

To secure solid
evidence, investigators marked the bills that were to be given to Oprescu as
bribe. After the money exchanged hands, the mayor was followed for a while from
a distance. In the evening, when his car was stopped, investigators found some
of the marked bills in his possession, while the rest of the money was found at
his home. On Sunday, anti-corruption prosecutors searched the mayor’s home, the
City Hall headquarters and other City Hall buildings and made some more
arrests, including the mayor’s driver, the director of the Mogosoaia Palace and
her deputy.

According to the
National Anticorruption Directorate, between 2013 and 2015, a well-organised
group that also included Sorin Oprescu created a system within the local
administration in Bucharest by which companies applying for contracts with
public institutions subordinated to the City Hall had to give some of their
profits to the persons who helped them win these contracts.

The companies in
question would be able to retain 30-33% of their net profit, while the rest
went to City Hall officials in bribe, including 10% of the value of the
contract to mayor Sorin Oprescu himself. A doctor by training and a former
member of the ruling Social Democratic Party, Sorin Oprescu has been a mayor of
Bucharest since 2008 and is currently serving his second term.

According to his
wealth statement, he owns 1,000 sqm of land near Bucharest and 500 sqm in the
mountain resort of Predeal, as well as a house and an apartment. Sorin Oprescu
also owns art and religious objects worth 65,000 euros, jewellery, watches and
electronic equipment worth 25,000 euros, as well as 65,000 euros in his bank
accounts.