The former mayor of Romanian city Cluj – Napoca Sorin Apostu (in picture) was recently sentenced to three years and six months in jail with execution for several corruption crimes. His wife also got three years in jail as an accomplice, but with parole possibility, and the businessman Călin Stoia, who bribed the mayor, was acquitted.

Apostu got several convictions, out of which the three and a half years one was the biggest and the one which will be served, by Romanian law. The court decisions can be further appealed.

Sorin Apostu and the businessman Călin Stoia were first arrested in November 2011 in this corruption case. Apostu, then still the mayor of Cluj – Napoca, was sent to court for having continuously taken bribes, for having been an accomplice to money laundry, having forged documents and traded influence, among others. Later on in February 2012, Apostu resigned from his mayor position, while still being under arrest.

The businessman Călin Stoia, administrator of the sanitation company Compania de Salubrizare Brantner Vereş was sent to court for having given bribes to the mayor, and for having been part of the money laundry and document forging ring. Stoica, who was released from arrest in April 2012, was acquitted earlier this week. The former mayor stayed in arrest until September 2012.

According to prosecutors, Apostu received EUR 45,000 from Stoica in order to favor the latter's firm in a public bid for sanitation services. In order to cover up the bribe, a fictitious contract between the sanitation firm and Apostu's wife's law office was signed.

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(photo source: Wikipedia)