New corruption investigations

Florentin Căpitănescu, 30.10.2015, 15:11

In recent years,
a series of Romanian MPs and local officials, including mayors of some big city
and heads of county councils, have swollen the ranks of the unemployed, losing
their seats as a result of prison sentences and ruling of incompatibility.

Today many
former or current mayors are still fighting their cases in court, desperately
trying to prove their innocence. Such is the case of the suspended mayor of
Bucharest Sorin Oprescu, who was charged with bribe taking, abuse of office and
money laundering. He is now under house arrest, following a ruling by the Court
of Appeal on Thursday to switch prison detention to home arrest because of his
health problems. Some in the media have sarcastically commented that his frail
health has not prevented him from serving his term or from seeking a third, as
he said he was planning to.

The mayor of the
city of Iasi Gheorghe Nichita has also had a run-in with the law. He is alleged
to have demanded and received undue benefits in exchange for awarding a
15-million-euro public contract. Oprescu and Nichita are just two names on a
longer list of mayors who have been involved in corruption investigations.
Criminal cases have also started against the likes of Radu Mazare in Constanta,
Iulian Badescu in Ploiesti, Tudor Pendiuc in Pitesti, Romeo Stavarache in Bacau
and Gheorghe Stefan in Piatra Neamt.

This week, MP
and former regional development minister Elena Udrea needed her colleagues’
help to thwart a request for pre-trial arrest by the National Anticorruption
Directorate. However, to prove that Romanian politics if full of paradox, MPs
did approve the request for the start criminal investigations against Udrea and
for her detention. Udrea is accused of receiving almost 4 million euros in
bribes from a businessman during her term as a minister to help him earn a
contract with a state-owned energy company.

With these
investigations, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate has become an example
of efficiency not just for institutions in the justice system, but for the
entire Romanian administration.