New corruption cases in the spotlight in Bucharest

A mini-earthquake with unpredictable consequences hit the Romanian political scene on Wednesday, when the mayor of Bucharests sector 2, Neculai Ontanu, was detained by anti-corruption prosecutors on suspicion of bribe taking.

Bogdan Matei, 24.03.2016, 15:10

The countrys local administration has been decimated by corruption scandals, with almost half of the number of local officials having problems with the law. In 2015 alone, 14 town mayors, 9 county council presidents and one prefect were indicted. Bucharest has six sectors and three of their mayors are currently under investigation for corruption, having already been detained and released from temporary custody, including the Liberal Sector 1 mayor Andrei Chiliman, the Progressive Sector 4 mayor Cristian Popescu Piedone and the Social Democrat Sector 5 mayor Marian Vanghelie.

Bucharests general mayor himself, Sorin Oprescu, who ran as an independent but is close to the Social Democratic Party, faces trial for corruption, having also been temporarily detained. What sets Neculai Ontanu apart is his longevity on the political scene and his long career as a mayor. First elected in 2000, he has already served four terms and was leading in opinion polls ahead of the upcoming elections on the 5th of June. Moreover, Ontanu has become the interim president of the third biggest party in Parliament, the National Union for the Progress of Romania, whose founding leader and the countrys former deputy prime minister and interior minister Gabriel Oprea is also facing corruption charges.

Ontanu is accused of receiving 1,500 sq. meters of land in Bucharest as bribe in the 2006-2007 period. Commentators in Bucharest say Ontanus detention by prosecutors will lead to his exit from the election race and speed up his partys disintegration. The partys MPs are, in fact, already defecting to other parliamentary parties in the run-up to the legislative elections in autumn. Just like the local administration, the next Parliament will also look significantly different, given that tens of MPs have been charged for acts of corruption.

The latest MP to find himself in this situation is Sebastian Ghita, who is close to the former Social Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta and who was accused on Wednesday of blackmail and of wrongfully using confidential information.