Romanian teacher sentenced to 8 years in jail for receiving EUR 200 bribe

A teacher from the Ovidius University in Constanta, Eastern Romania, was sentenced to 8 years in jail for receiving a EUR 200 bribe from a Greek student to help him pass an exam, in 2015. The court’s decision is final, Mediafax reported.

The teacher was caught in the act taking the bribe from the Greek student in his office at the university, in January 2015, and arrested at that time. The professor worked at the Pharmacy Faculty of the Ovidius University in Constanta.

The magistrates’ decision mentions that the sentence is for 11 counts of bribery, which means that the teacher had taken bribes before being caught. The court also ordered the confiscation of EUR 3,350 from the teacher.

The magistrates also ruled that the Greek student should pay for court costs worth RON 3,000 (EUR 630) and enroll in one or more social reintegration programs carried out by the probation service.

The sentence given to the professor seems harsh when compared to those ruled against high-profile public officials who were sent to court for bigger bribes. For example, former Piatra Neamt mayor Gheorghe Stefan was sentenced in 2019 to 45 months in jail for receiving a EUR 227,000 bribe and former Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu was sentenced to 4 years and 4 months in jail for a EUR 25,000 bribe. More recently, former Chamber of Deputies speaker Bogdan Olteanu was sentenced to 7 years in jail for a EUR 1 million bribe. All three sentences are not final, however.

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