Timișoara mayor faces conflict of interest allegations over electoral campaign loan

Dominic Fritz, the recently re-elected mayor of Timișoara, faces accusations of administrative conflict of interest over a loan taken from an individual during the electoral campaign. He then allegedly drew up an administrative act for the benefit of the company represented by that person, thus violating the legal regime of conflicts of interest, the National Integrity Agency (ANI) said.

"The evaluated person contracted a loan in the electoral campaign from a natural person. Later, during the exercise of the mayoral mandate, in November 2020, he drew up an administrative act in favor of the company represented by the natural person, violating the legal regime of conflicts of interest," ANI announced on Wednesday, July 10.

In response, Dominic Fritz said the "whole thing is absurd and completely unfounded," adding that he intends to fight the allegations in court.

"[…] they say that I participated in the development of a PUZ for a beneficiary who lent me money - only I did not participate, he was not a beneficiary, and he did not lend me money," Fritz wrote in a post on social media.

According to him, an architect developed the technical documentation for a client's PUZ (Urban Zonal Plan). The PUZ went through all the stages before Fritz became mayor, with his predecessor's signature.

"When I took over the mandate, the only thing missing was the vote from the City Council. To prevent a document signed by the former mayor from entering the new council, my colleagues asked me in the first days of my mandate to once again sign the approval report that sends the document, without changing a comma, to the local council," Dominic Fritz said.

"The architect, who is not the beneficiary of the PUZ as claimed by ANI but only developed it for a client, without benefiting in any way from his vote or non-vote, is also a USR local councilor. He lent the 2020 mayoral campaign RON 25,000, an amount of which I personally did not see a single penny and which was returned when AEP returned the campaign money (this is how electoral campaigns are financed in Romania)," he added.

Dominic Fritz won a new term as mayor of Timișoara following the June 2024 election.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos / Virgil Simonescu)