Bucharest Police expands Romania’s “V.I.P. jail”

The Bucharest police department will expand its prison block, which accommodates people under temporary arrest who are waiting for trial. Many high-profile Romanian politicians and businessmen have passed through there in recent months. The police will set up new jail cells in two adjacent buildings that currently host the Romanian Police’s magazine and the Institute for Criminality Research and Prevention, according to officials quoted by Mediafax newswire. The Bucharest police’s prison is almost fully occupied, according to the same sources. Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) is among the institutions responsible for this situations, as the DNA prosecutors have arrested tens of politicians, public officials and businessmen on corruption crimes in the past months. Former tourism minister Elena Udrea recently spent seven nights in Bucharest Police’s arrest, after DNA held her for influence peddling in the Microsoft licenses case. She made the headlines in Romanian media for asking to redecorate her cell. She may return in police custody, as DNA has made another request to arrest her. Udrea’s former husband, businessman Dorin Cocos is also in arrest. So is the mayor of Piatra Neamt, Gheorghe Stefan. They were both held in November for bribery, also in the Microsoft case. Former economy minister Adriean Videanu also spent a night in Bucharest Police’s custody recently, as DNA held him. The court released him under judicial control. The former chief prosecutor of the Romanian Anti-Organized Crime and Terrorism Directorate (DIICOT), Alina Bica, has spent more than two months in the police’s jail. The DNA held her on several counts of corruption related to illegal property restitutions and others. The same prison has hosted several Romanian millionaires in the past two years. Dan Adamescu, the owner of insurer Astra Asigurari and Unirea Shopping Center, was one of them. Nicolae Dumitru, the owner of the Niro group, also spent some time in jail last year. Media mogul Adrian Sarbu, who owns the Mediafax group, was also arrested at the beginning of February, on tax evasion and money laundering charges. editor@romania-insider.com