Former Bucharest district mayor gets 140-month jail sentence for EUR 30 mln bribe

Former mayor of Bucharest’s District 5, Marian Vanghelie, was given a 140-month jail sentence for bribery and abuse of office.

The decision, which is not final, was taken on May 13 by the Bucharest Court, after a trial that lasted six years.

Vanghelie is also supposed to pay EUR 15 mln in damages to District 5, Digi24 reported.

Vanghelie was sued by the national anticorruption directorate (DNA) for nine counts of bribery and abuse of office and seven counts of money laundering. In the same case, Mircea-Sorin Niculae (Vanghelie's cousin), Sorin Ștefan Ciocan, Laura Ciocan, director of ‘Economat Sector 5’ , and businessman Marin Dumitru were also sued.

According to DNA, between 2006 and 2014, Marian Vanghelie, as mayor of District 5 in Bucharest, assisted by Mircea-Sorin Niculae and partly by Laura Ciocan, requested and received from Marin Dumitru undue material benefits in the amount of approximately EUR 30.4 mln.

These benefits were claimed and received by Vanghelie in exchange for awarding public procurement contracts to companies controlled by businessman Marin Dumitru, but also for speeding up the payment of the works related to these contracts (the total value is approximately RON 738 mln - roughly EUR 165 mln).

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)