UPDATE 00:05: Sorin Oprescu has been arrested. Bucharest mayor will be taken into central arrest, where he will stay for 30 days. One of Sorin Oprescu’s lawyers, Viorel Mocanu, denied information that Sorin Oprescu had been caught red handed.
The lawyer added that Oprescu expressed his confidence into the act of justice, however.
"No, he was not caught red handed, this has been circulated around and there is no such thing. Mr. Oprescu expressed once again his confidence in the act of justice and he has submitted a contestation. He explained absolutely all the elements brought against him in terms of charges, just as he perceived things have happened."
"Unfortunately, the situation is repeated when one witness comes, gives a statement by way of denunciation and this measure is ordered without any other evidence."
"The jamming device they talk about has not been found.
UPDATE 19.00: Sorin Oprescu was brought at the Bucharest Courthouse, where magistrates are to decide whether the mayor will be placed under preventive arrest.
UPDATE 17.00: Sorin Oprescu will arrive at the Bucharest Courthouse at 19.00 hours, then the magistrates will decide whether they will place him under custody.
UPDATE 15.00 Sorin Oprescu has arrived at the headquarters of the City Police Department. A strange incident occurred on the road between Ciolpani to Bucharest. The motorcade stopped twice and the city hall mayor was transferred from a white van into a black one. Investigators have collected several boxes of documents from the mayor’s Ciolpani. The searches at the City Hall are still ongoing. Sorin Oprescu will know if he is served with an arrest warrant today. Today, the mayor will also appear before a judge.
UPDATE 14.15: Sorin Oprescu was taken from home in handcuffs and taken to the DNA. The special forces have lifted several boxes of documents from the mayor’s house.
UPDATE 12.15: The lawyer of Sorin Oprescu said the mayor mandated him to say that he "has not asked for money, directly or indirectly, the money was not taken from the whistleblowers, he did not know its origin, it was the duty of DNA to further clarify this matter, not to throw into arrest a man only based on words spoken by other defendants.
UPDATE 12.00: The money received as bribes by mayor Sorin Oprescu was partly found on him and another part was found at the mayor’s residence, legal sources said.
UPDATE 11.45 DNA will request a warrant for the placement under custody on the name of Sorin Oprescu.
Sorin Oprescu has been detained by the DNA prosecutors Sunday morning being charged with bribe taking.
"During 2013-2015, a well-organized group which defendant Sorin Mircea Oprescu has joined, set up in the local government of Bucharest a system whereby economic operators wishing to receive contracts from public institutions subordinated to the city hall had to remit a portion of the gross profit achieved from the implementation of those agreements in the form of bribe to stakeholders from within the Bucharest City Hall.
The contractor would keep to himself between 30% and 33% of the gross profit and the difference was delivered to officials from within the Bucharest City Hall, by way of bribes, a percentage of 10% of the contract being asked for the defendant Sorin Mircea Oprescu.
Specifically, the group members, persons responsible for the management of the two public institutions subordinated to the Bucharest City Hall acted as facilitators in the contracts awarding, they would speak with their employees to accept the tender documents and to approve and order the payment of invoices issued by the respective companies, quite fast compared to the time of the invoicing, requesting at the same time money for the people in the management positions within the Bucharest City Hall and for the Mayor.
On 05/09/2015, based on a preliminary agreement with the director of a public institution subordinated to a trustee of the mayor, defendant Sorin Oprescu Mircea received from the first the amount of 25,000 euro from the overall 60,000 euro which the two claimed from the four whistleblowers of the Bucharest mayor "the DNA prosecutors stated in the official press release.
Sorin Oprescu will arrive today before the magistrates with the proposal for placement under preventive arrest.