Several candidates with various criminal problems remain in the option of their parties, being proposed for the mandates of mayors or heads of county councils in the June 9 elections.
The parties keep mayors or heads of the CJ accused of acts committed in office PHOTO Mediafax / Inquam
The liberals chose to continue in Iași with the proposal of the current mayor, Mihai Chirică, and the president of the County Council, Costel Alexe, although they are being sued for acts of corruption committed during their mandates. The cases of the two are among the most notorious.
Added to these is the case of the head of CJ Prahova, Iulian Dumitrescu, suspended from office, being prosecuted by the DNA. Dumitrescu is accused of bribery and false statements. In his case, the support from the center was not expressed, being referred to the Ethics and Statute Commission and not having a validation in the National Political Bureau of the party, but the liberal vice-president Virgil Guran explained to RFI that Dumitrescu has the right to run.
In the case of the two counties, the PSD-PNL governing alliance chose to go separately, so the social democrats proposed Virgiliu Nanu, the former prefect who resigned to run, in the electoral battle for the headship of CJ Prahova. In Iași, Bogdan Balanişcu, secretary of state in the Ministry of the Environment, claims that he can remove Chirică from the mayor's office, while Alexe's headship of the CJ is threatened by the head of the PSD Iași branch, Bogdan Cojocaru, former prefect.
Nicolae Robu, former mayor of Timișoara, suspected of abuse of office in a DNA case, is also on the liberal list of candidates with problems with the law. Robu is now the joint candidate of PSD and PNL for the Timișoara City Hall.
Replaced by wife
In the case of the PSD, the most notorious is the mayor of Sector 3, Robert Negoiță, supported by the PSD-PNL alliance for a new mandate. The mayor was sent to court in 2023, along with several civil servants, being accused of abuse of office. The mayor of sector 3 allegedly fraudulently extended a contract with a sanitation company, the damage being estimated at over half a billion lei.
Another case is that of the PSD candidate for the Suceava City Hall, Vasile Rîmbu, who, being suspended from the position of manager of the Emergency County Hospital in Suceava, obtained information not intended for publicity, consisting of the contents of the addresses formulated by the prosecutors. At that time, the hospital management was accused of not taking the necessary measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 among patients and among staff. Rîmbu later resigned from the post. PNL has a separate candidate, proposing Lucian Harșovschi.
Vasile Iluță, the head of the Călărași County Council, is also on the list of social democrats, accused of abuse of office, continuous intellectual forgery and blackmail. Acquitted last year by the Bucharest Court, on the grounds that “the act is not provided for by the criminal law or was not committed with the guilt provided for by the law”, he is accused of restricting the right to work in the case of several employees of CJ Călărași. However, DNA contested the court's decision. Here PNL decided to support Valentin Barbu.
PSD also has two final convictions, the candidate for the Șotrile City Hall in Prahova and the candidate for the Șuțești City Hall in Brăila. In Șuțești, it is about Costică Dobre, definitively sentenced, in 2018, to one year of suspended prison, for pimping and joining an organized criminal group. In a press conference recently organized in the county, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu avoided answering a question about it.
In the Șotrile commune, PSD Prahova found a solution and chose to help the wife of the former mayor, Bogdan Davidescu, definitively convicted in 2019 for child pornography. Davidescu won the partial elections organized in 2021, after the mandate obtained in 2020 was invalidated by the court. The mayor had a relationship with a minor whom he started blackmailing when she ended the relationship with him. The candidacy of the mayor from Prahov was blocked at the PNL's notice.
USR's allegations
The ADU candidate (Alianța Dreapta Unită), Clotilde Armand, was sent to court on the very day she submitted her candidacy for a new mandate. The head of the USR Formation defended her, accusing her of being unfairly investigated. “I say she is innocent (Clotilde Armand – no). It is sewn with white thread, four prosecutors were changed”, the party leader claimed to Digi24.
Investigated regarding a project for which she appointed herself manager, Clotilde Armand refused to withdraw at PSD's request, which asked USR to apply the standards of integrity in politics that they invoke. Armand is accused of obtaining gross monthly income of over 18,000 lei through her appointment, as a result of some provisions she issued as mayor.
The case of Piedone
The current mayor of Sector 5, the PUSL candidate for the Capital City Hall, Cristian Popescu Piedone, resumed his mandate in 2023, being released from prison after the judges granted him an extraordinary appeal.
On May 12, 2022, Cristian Popescu-Piedone was sentenced by the Bucharest Court of Appeal to 4 years in prison for abuse of office in the Colectiv case, a shorter sentence than the original one, being accused of having signed the agreements and operating authorizations of the Colectiv club in a way that violated the legal provisions.
