Romania’s anticorruption prosecutors called Bucharest District 5 suspended mayor Marian Vanghelie for questioning on Thursday, May 5. The prosecutors have started an investigation on Vanghelie for new charges of office abuse during his mayor terms.

Vanghelie confirmed that he was targeted by a new corruption investigation related to two public sanitation contracts which he allegedly granted illegally.

“Being a suspect has become a national second name. If you are not a suspect then it means you are stupid,” Vanchelie told the journalists when he left the National Anticorruption Directorate - DNA’s headquarters, according to Digi 24 news station.

Marian Vanghelie, who has been one of Bucharest’s most popular mayors, has been investigated in other corruption cases in the past years. The DNA prosecutors arrested him in March 2015 during another abuse of office investigation. He spent about four months in arrest and was released in July 2015, when he was placed under house arrest. He was suspended from his duties as District 5 mayor after his arrest.

Vanghelie has been mayor of Bucharest’s poorest district since June 2000. He recently announced that he would run for another term in the local elections to take place on June 5.

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editor@romania-insider.com