Former Romanian mayor gets four-year jail sentence for bribery

Gheorghe Nichita, the former mayor of Iasi, a large city in Eastern Romania, was sentenced to four years in prison, no parole, for bribery. The former mayor is accused of taking a bribe in a contract on traffic management in Iasi. However, the decision ruled by the Bucharest Court is not final, reports local Mediafax. In the same case, local businessman Tiberiu Urdareanu, the owner of the UTI group, was sentenced to eight months probation for giving bribes. In August 2013, Gheorghe Nichita demanded and received money for helping the joint venture of UTI and IBC win a public contract worth RON 69.6 million (EUR 15.7 mln), without VAT, according to prosecutors. The contract, which was financed with European funds, provided the implementation of a traffic management system in Iasi, which was supposed to streamline the traffic and decrease pollution. The mayor should have received 10% of the contract, according to the deal. He has received a part of the total amount of 10%, as well as other benefits such as discounts at a luxury hotel in Bucharest. Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com