Another Romanian mayor will go to jail: the Cluj Court recently ruled that Baia Mare mayor Catalin Chereches should spend the next 30 days in jail.

The decision comes after the National Anticorruption Department DNA decided on April 26 to arrest the mayor for 24 hours for taking bribes.

However,  Chereches' lawyers plan to file an appeal against the Court’s decision, reports local Mediafax.

Chereches was taken into for questioning on April 26 after he was allegedly caught red-handed while taking a bribe in a sting operation organized by DNA. The charges are related to the financings granted to private football club FCM Baia Mare.

In 2014, the mayor proposed a person (the denouncer in this case) to take over a management position at FCM Baia Mare, and that person agreed. Later on, Chereches promised him financial support for the club, so that the club could pay its debts and continue its activity in good conditions, provided that part of the money would be remitted to the mayor.

Based on this agreement, Chereches claimed and received RON 70,000 (over EUR 15,000) between March and August 2015, on several occasions, directly or through an intermediary, according to DNA.

Things allegedly continued like this in the coming period, so DNA decided to organize a sting operation on April 26 this year.

Catalin Chereches has been the mayor of Baia Mare since 2011. He had announced he would run for a new mandate at this year’s local elections scheduled for June 5.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com