Anticorruption prosecutors investigate Constanța’s mayor for abuse of office

Vergil Chiţac, the mayor of Constanța, a major city on the Romanian Black Sea coast, is being investigated by the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) for abuse of office. The case targets a sporting event financed by the City Hall based on a contract not awarded through a public selection procedure, which allegedly caused financial damage of about RON 1.7 million.

Alin Vintilă, executive director of the Constanţa City Hall, is also investigated for complicity in abuse of office, while Andrei Talpeş, president of the Constanţa Municipal Sports Club, has been charged with complicity in abuse of office and blackmail.

The sporting event was organized this year by an association made up of five entities that also included the Constanța City Hall, the Municipal Sports Club (C.S.M.) Constanța, the Romanian Yachting Federation (FRY), and a commercial company based in Monaco. DNA prosecutors say that mayor Vergil Chiţac approved the full financing of the event without having a contract awarded through a public selection procedure and without a preventive financial control visa or any report from the specialized department. The money allegedly ended up at the company in Monaco.

“Since, through the ‘agreement’ of some of the parties, the money from the financing would have been decided to end up in the accounts of the company based in Monaco (although it would not have performed any well-defined activity during the event in question), the suspect Andrei Talpeș allegedly pressured some people from the management of the Romanian Yachting Federation to induce them to make a payment of approximately EUR 290,000 to that company,” reads the DNA press release.

Thus, a total of about RON 1.72 million was allegedly transferred to the accounts of the commercial company in Monaco, representing a loss for Constanța City Hall.

Vergil Chiţac denied the allegations and said the financing contract was approved by a decision of the City Council and had a preventive financial control visa, News.ro reported. He also stated that the money was not transferred to Monaco, as the anticorruption prosecutors claim, but to the account of the Romanian Yachting Federation through the Constanţa Municipal Sports Club.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)