Marian Vanghelie, the suspended Mayor of District 5 was brought in by van from arrest to DNA on Saturday, for interrogation. According to legal sources quoted by Romania TV, Vanghelie was cited in the file he is prosecuted and kept under arrest on.
DNA extended investigation in the file Vanghelie was accused of abuse of office, bribe taking and money laundering.
“An extension of criminal prosecution was made, which means that Mr. Mayor was explained more clearly that accounts he was actually accused on, and, finally, we ended up in a situation where he is accused of eight accounts of abuse of office, eight bribe taking offences and eight accounts of money laundering. Prosecutors needed to explain in an extension ordinance what the accusations against the defendant consisted in”, Vanghelie’s lawyer, Cezar Bivolaru declared at DNA headquarters.
He mentioned that Marian Vanghelie did not wish to make any comments in front of prosecutors, but he will be always willing to make declarations in front of judges.
Marian Vanghelie was placed under preventive arrest on March 14, in a file DNA accused him of abuse of office, bribe taking and money laundering.
“In the period of 2007 – present, defendant Vanghelie, in return for certain material favours, helped a businessman to gain, for the society the latter controlled, numerous public works contracts, contracts of a total value of RON 2 billion. For the attribution and payment of contracts stipulating the completion of public works, defendant Vanghelie Marian-Daniel received a “tax” of approximately 20 per cent of the value of contracts signed by the Mayoralty of District 5 and subordinated institutions, on one hand, and companies controlled by the respective businessman, on the other hand”, DNA reported.
“The respective ‘tax’ was paid by businessman Dumitru Marin to Vanghelie through Mircea-Sorin Niculae (the Mayor’s cousin) and through another close person”, the prosecutors added.
“This commission was paid, partly, in the form of commercially unjustified contracts, signed by SC Premier Palace SRL (a company controlled, through off-shore company, by the businessman) and trade companies controlled, through intermediaries, by Vanghelie, contracts that stipulated that the former company paid the latter companies significant sums of money. The data collected in the file showed that the beneficiaries of such contracts (and of the adjacent sums of money) were, among others, the companies Bucuresti SA, Fashion Brand Management SRL (both managed by defendant Niculae) and Economat Sector 5 SRL (where defendant Ciocan had held the position of General Manager)”, DNA showed.
Marian Vanghelie is in preventive arrest for four months after being accused that, during his term at the District 5 Mayoralty, he received bribes of EUR 90 million from contracts he preferentially granted to certain businessmen.
The suspended Mayor of District 5 has submitted four requests to be investigated on probation, yet, all of them were overruled.
“During 2007 – present, defendant Vanghelie, in return for certain material benefits, helped a businessman gain, for the companies controlled by the latter, numerous contracts on public works, contracts of a total value of approximately RON 2 billion. For attributing and paying the respective contracts, defendant Vanghelie Marian-Daniel requested a ‘tax’ of approximately 20 per cent of the value of contracts signed by the Mayoralty of District 5 and its subordinated institutions, on one hand, and the companies controlled by the businessman, on the other hand”, DNA pointed out.
