Romanian mayor held for 24h for corruption, abuse of office

Romanian Aurel Olarean, mayor of Radauti in Northern Romania, was held for 24h on Thursday evening (September 11), for allegedly blackmailing a local councilor to vote for paying a EUR 65,000 fee to a lawyer and to convince the councilor to join the mayor's party, based on the new ordinanceon migration of local elected officials. According to a statement of the National Anticorruption Directorate DNA, Olarean was arrested for abuse of office as the official has obtained an undue advantage for himself or for others, blackmail and complicity to blackmail. On Friday, September 13, the prosecutors will ask the Bucharest Court of Appeal for his preventive 30-day arrest. In August 2010, the mayor of Radauti illegally asked the City Hall secretary to sign a contract for legal assistance, under which a lawyer should receive EUR 65,000 from the Radauti City Hall, without organizing a tender for the award of the contract. From the total amount, EUR 15,000 was the success fee and EUR 50,000 was the fixed fee. In late-August this year, Aurel Olarean threatened a local councilor to vote for the draft resolution under which the lawyer’s fee was changed. He also said that if the councilor did not join the mayor's party, he will have his wife dismissed from a leadership position at an institution subordinated to the City Hall. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com