Mayor of Romanian city arrested for taking EUR 0.5 mln bribes

Romanian Romeo Stavarache, the mayor of Bacau, was arrested on Thursday (June 26) by the National Anticorruption Agency (DNA) for 24 hours. He allegedly received bribes of over RON 2.3 million (some EUR 522,000) from several businessmen, according to a DNA press release. Two other suspects were arrested in this case, namely Liviu Vasile Cenusa and former football player Liviu Goian. In a statement, DNA said that Stavarache was arrested for five offenses of bribery, Liviu Goian was arrested for three offenses of complicity to bribery, while Cenusa Liviu Vasile was arrested for two offenses of complicity to bribery. Between 2008 and 2011, Romeo Stavarache allegedly received, directly or via the other two defendants, several amounts of money from four businessmen, in exchange for assigning them public contracts. For example, Stavarache requested a firm to give him 50 percent of the value of work paid by the Bacau city hall for installing lighting poles. He received more than EUR 180,000 from that firm, from March 2008 to October 2011. He also demanded from another firm 10 percent of the value of a building contract for a 45-apartment block which was worth EUR 2.7 million. He received some EUR 286,000 for this. According to DNA, other people are being investigated in this case. Romeo Stavarache has been the mayor of Bacau since 2004. Bacau is one of the richest cities in the Romanian region of Moldova, with more than EUR 150 million annual budget. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com