Romanian politician Horia Uioreanu, the president of Cluj County Council, was arrested for 24 hours, on Wednesday, May 29, following a request from the prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA). He is currently investigated for allegedly taking bribes.

Prosecutors allege Uioreanu requested some EUR 160,000 from a local businessman, which represents 15 percent of the value of some contracts which the Cluj County Council assigned to a firm belonging to that businessman. The firm cashed in some EUR 720,000 in 2013 from these contracts.

Another case in which Uioreanu is investigated targets the construction of the runway for the Cluj-Napoca International Airport, which was assigned in 2011 to an association led by construction firm Napoca SA, controlled by local businessman Ioan Bene, for EUR 32.4 million.

The work is supposed to be finished by September 2014. During execution, 24 addenda were added to the contract, raising its total value to EUR 42 million. The prosecutors found that Uioreanu, as president of the contracting authority, gave Napoca SA green light to continue with the second phase of the project for expanding the Cluj airport, without organizing another public auction for this contract, for which he allegedly received over EUR 63,000 in bribes from Ioan Bene. S

Some of this money was included in a fake contract for an opinion poll for the European  Parliament elections, prosecutors said.

Horia Uioreanu, who turned 54 last week, has been president of Cluj County Council since 2012. He is member of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and was also a deputy in Romania’s parliament between 2004 and 2012.

Uioreanu is the latest of a big group of local Romanian administrative officials, also known as “local barons” to be prosecuted for corruption. Earlier this year, the presidents of Mehedinti County Council, Adrian Duicu, and of Prahova County Council, Mircea Cosma, were also temporarily arrested as prosecutors finalized investigations.

The president of the Constanta County Council, Nicusor Constantinescu, was also brought in for questioning in March this year.

The County Council presidents from Dolj, Arges, Braila, Harghita, Sibiu and Botosani were also taken for questioning last year. They have all denied the charges, saying it was just political vendetta.

editor@romania-insider.com