The suspended mayor of Mangalia, investigated for bribery and money laundering, was placed under house arrest
Radu Cristian, the mayor of Mangalia, PHOTO: Screenshot from the mayor's TikTok channel (cristian.radu127)
The Constanţa court decided, on Thursday, to replace the measure of preventive arrest with house arrest for the suspended mayor of Mangalia, Cristian Radu. The decision is not final and can be appealed to the Constanța Court of Appeal.
The same court had decided last month to place Cristian Radu under house arrest, but the Constanța Court of Appeal accepted the appeal of the prosecutors, and the suspended mayor remained in preventive detention.
Cristian Radu was pre-arrested at the end of August, for accepting bribes. The next day he was suspended from the position of mayor of Mangalia.
The DNA accuses him of bribery and money laundering
The prosecutors have documented five cases in which the mayor took bribes directly or through intermediaries and accuse him of money laundering through the way he wanted to disguise and hide the origin of the money.
Thus, according to DNA, the mayor requested, in the period 2022-2024, 80,000 euros, of which he received through an intermediary the amount of 42,333 euros, to let various people carry out commercial activities on the beach or in the Mangalia Tourist Port area without being fined or imprisoned by the Mangalia Local Police. According to the prosecutors, the amount of money was offered in the form of purchases of luxury clothing items.
During 2020, prosecutors claim, the mayor claimed the sum of 70,000 euros, of which he received through an intermediary the sum of 20,000 euros, in order to issue an urban planning certificate and later a construction permit for a P+12 residential building in the Neptun resort.
Two other acts of bribery took place in 2023, according to DNA. Then, say the prosecutors, the mayor claimed and received a benefit, i.e. the equivalent of 500,000 euros by reducing the purchase price of the asset of a commercial company, for the assignment of some lease contracts regarding lands located in Mangalia Tourist Port. Also in 2023, says DNA, he asked for 50,000 euros, of which he received 150,000 lei, so that two people would not be controlled by officials from Mangalia City Hall during the construction of a building in the Neptun resort.
The last act documented by DNA took place at the beginning of this year, when the mayor claimed and received the sum of 50,000 euros from a person, so that the latter could obtain from the City Hall of Constanța a Certificate of attestation of the building/extension of the construction made without a building permit for a building located in the Saturn resort.
