The former mayor of Constanta, Radu Mazăre, told how he rebuilt his life after prison and how he ended up building a resort thousands of kilometers from Romania, in Madagascar.
The former mayor of Constanta was released on parole in 2024, on May 27, after five years spent in prison. Once released, he chose to return to Madagascar.
“I first came here in 2011, so it’s been about 15 years since I came. I was passionate about kitesurfing. I stayed in an adjacent bay. At one point, the one I was staying with, a Frenchman with whom I remained on good terms, told me that he wanted to build some bungalows in the area. While I was kitesurfing on the ocean, I discovered the bay I’m in now. I saw that it was eminently deserted, it was kind of semi-jungle on land. I went on land with the machete to see and say: “better to do it myself than to buy from the one who made me the offer”Radu Mazăre told in a podcast.
He revealed that the completion of the project was, however, more difficult than any situation he encountered in the 15 years he spent at the helm of Constanța City Hall.
“From two or three bungalows, we ended up making a four-star resort. Of course, it involved an extraordinary amount of work. We had to clear the forest, you can’t find building materials. The people who are, many of them, are hardworking, but they don’t have any knowledge.”stated Radu Mazăre.
The former alderman also spoke about the problems he faced while raising his spring.
“We come from some countries, let’s call them developed. If you want to build something, you sign a contract with a company that does the electrical part for you, another one does the installation part, you tell it what you want, it does it for you, you paid, it delivered the product to you in accordance with the standards, with the rules. There is no such thing here. Everyone says “yes”, they know how to do it. I took this company to do my installations, it worked for three days and then it broke down. Why? Because they really don’t know anything. And then it was difficult to do without machinery, without materials. A big challenge. I can tell you that it was a bigger challenge than the town hall that I managed for 15 years”added Radu Mazăre.
Radu Mazăre’s resort includes 16 bungalows located on an area of 1.8 hectares, land on which the former mayor of Constanța concessioned for 99 years from a local tribe. He would have paid one euro per square meter, according to the data in his wealth declaration.
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The initial investment was 1.3 million euros, but further development, including the construction of a swimming pool, a gym and a restaurant, raised the costs to more than 1.5 million euros.
Radu Mazăre was among the first “runaways” of Romania. Definitively convicted in February 2019, he left before the sentencing, settling in Madagascar, where he invested in a tourist complex. He was extradited and brought to the country in May 2019, and then imprisoned. The former mayor explained that the years of detention led him to focus exclusively on his family and personal peace, away from the turmoil in the country.
The case in which Mazăre received nine years in prison refers to the fraudulent retrocession of large areas of inner-city land in Constanţa, Mamaia, the beach and the cliff, the damage being 114 million euros, which was not recovered.
The judges of the Supreme Court sentenced, in May 2019, the former mayor of Constanta, Radu Mazăre, to 9 years and 10 months in prison with execution, in the case “Polaris”. Later, in May 2024, he was released.
New problems with wealth in Romania: the Court of Appeal decided to confiscate 160,000 euros
While Radu Mazăre develops his business among Madagascar’s top hoteliers, the country’s political past continues to bring him lawsuits. In February 2026, the Constanța Court of Appeal admitted a referral from the National Integrity Agency (ANI) and ordered the confiscation of the sums of 137,570 euros and 143,818 lei (approximately 160,000 euros in total) from the estate of the former mayor, considered to have been unjustifiably acquired.
The judges found that a series of cash deposits and bank transfers made by various people to the former mayor’s accounts had no legal basis or contract. Moreover, the court emphasized that the sum of 95,000 euros from this total represents a part of a bribe of 175,000 euros.
Radu Mazăre did not appear in court and did not submit evidence to justify the origin of the money, the summons being left in his mailbox at an address in Bucharest.
