The mayor of Mangalia does not escape preventive arrest. The court decision extends the arrest warrant
The mayor of Mangalia, Cristian Radu. Photo source: Seapress.ro video capture
The judges of the Constanța Court decided on Thursday to maintain the measure of preventive arrest of the suspended mayor of Mangalia, Cristian Radu, sent to court for acts of corruption. At the same time, the defendant's request to apply a lighter preventive measure was rejected.
The sentence is not final and can be contested within 48 hours of communication.
“On the basis of (…), it finds the legality and validity of the measure of preventive arrest ordered against the defendant Radu Cristian, sent to court for the commission of pre-trial and pedagogic crimes of (…). It maintains the measure of preventive arrest of the defendant, for a period of 30 days, to be verified at the latest on 13.02.2026. It rejects the request of the defendant's defenders to replace the measure of arrest preventive with a lighter preventive measure. With the right of appeal within 48 hours from the communication. Pronounced in the meeting of the council, today, 15.01.2026, it emerges from the solution briefly formulated by the magistrates.
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.
What charges were brought against him
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.
