Romania's National Anticorruption Department (DNA) has prosecuted Targu Mures mayor Dorin Florea and his son Dan Aurel Florea in a new high profile corruption case in the local administration. The president of the Mures County Council has also been indicted by the DNA in a separate corruption case.

The Targu Mures mayor is charged with bribery while the son is accused of complicity to bribery and money laundering. Their case also involves local businessman Mircea-Nicolae Musgociu, who is investigated for offering bribes and money laundering.

According to DNA, the Targu Mures mayor got the city council to vote a project that targeted the extension of an important street, in 2011. Investor Mircea Musgociu apparently had a direct interest in this project as he had some land swap deals with the Targu Mures City Hall.

In December the same year, the mayor’s son, Dan Aurel Florea, purchased an apartment of some 160 sqm from a company represented by Musgociu for a price below the market value (EUR 74,000 plus VAT). In the spring of 2015, Florea sold the same apartment for EUR 130,000.

Dorin Florea has been the mayor of Targu Mures since 2000. On Wednesday, April 20, he announced that he would run for a new term at this year’s local elections scheduled for June 5.

In a separate case, the anticorruption prosecutors are also investigating the Mures County Council president Ciprian Minodor Dobre. The bribery and influence peddling charges against Dobre are connected to his activity in 2006-2008, when he was the Mures county prefect. He allegedly took a RON 120,000 bribe from a local businessman to defend his interests. He later reported the money as a donation.

Both Ciprian Dobre and Dorin Florea are members of the National Liberal Party (PNL).

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

(photo source: Dorin Florea on Facebook)