How the network of real estate scams worked in Sector 5: Piedone's nephew and two other officials from the City Hall, detained

On Friday, February 6, DNA prosecutors detained three employees of the Sector 5 City Hall in the real estate corruption case. On Saturday, they will be presented to the Bucharest Court, with a proposal for preventive arrest for 30 days.

PHOTO: Archive

According to a statement published by DNA, it is about:

• Cârlogea Iulian Constantin, public administrator of the Sector 5 City Hall (nephew of Cristian Popescu Piedone), for committing the crime of complicity in influence peddling
• Bașca Robert-Mihai, chief architect of the Sector 5 City Hall, for committing the crime of influence peddling
• Chioran Florin, Deputy General Director of the General Directorate of Local Police Sector 5, for committing the crimes of bribery in continuous form (2 material documents) and inciting intellectual forgery.

The DNA prosecutors started the criminal investigation and ordered judicial control for 60 days, starting on February 6, 2026, against Olaru Cătălin, head of the Construction Discipline Service of the Local Police Sector 5, for intellectual forgery.

The prosecutors also started the criminal investigation and detained for 24 hours, starting on February 5, 2026, ARA, the administrator of several companies, for influence peddling and bribery.

On February 6, 2026, the Bucharest Court decided on the preventive arrest of ARA for 30 days, at the proposal of the anti-corruption prosecutors.

How the network worked. Tens of thousands of euros for speeding up receptions and documents

According to the prosecutors, between December 2025 and February 2026, ARA would have asked and received from two businessmen 40,000 euros, in two equal installments, promising to use its influence on some officials from the State Construction Inspectorate and the chief architect Bașca Robert Mihai from the Town Hall of Sector 5 to speed up the issuance of the necessary documents to complete a construction.

The first installment of 20,000 euros would have been received at the end of December 2025.

From the amount received, ARA would have promised Bașca Robert Mihai the sum of 30,000 euros for the support given at the reception of the works.

Of this, 15,000 euros would have been paid after receiving the first installment, with the remaining 15,000 euros to be paid later, after the issuance of the construction attestation certificate.

So, Bașca Robert Mihai was going to intervene alongside the officials of the Sector 5 Town Hall and the Local Police to speed up the reception of the works and the issuance of the attestation documents of a residential building in the sector.

On February 5, 2026, ARA received from one of the businessmen the second installment of 20,000 euros, an amount discovered by the prosecutors during the search of his car.

In the same case, Cârlogea Iulian Constantin, public administrator of the Sector 5 City Hall, would have insisted verbally and by phone with Chioran Florin, deputy general director of the Local Police, to quickly complete the reception of the works.

Chioran Florin issued and signed the reception documents, assigned the work to the local police, and after finding some irregularities on January 13, 2026, redistributed the work to Olaru Cătălin, head of the Construction Discipline Service, who signed the report without checking the construction and without noting the irregularities.

Research shows that, between December 2024 and December 2025, Chioran Florin would have received from a subordinate 70,000 lei (approximately 14,000 euros) and 3,100 euros to quickly sign an address to the Directorate of Taxes and Local Taxes, through which two buildings for which the reception of the works had been admitted were taxed.