Bucharest's District 5 Mayor Marian Vanghelie spent the night in the arrest, waiting to be taken to court by National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) prosecutors for a 30-day preventive custody pending trial.
Upon leaving the DNA offices under escort to the Bucharest Police detaining facilities, Vanghelie declared: 'This is Romania of denouncements.'
Four other people among the mayor's acquaintances and relatives were also taken into police custody in the same case, Agerpres announces.
Judiciary sources disclosed that Vanghelie is charged of collecting a 'commission' around 20 percent of the values of contracts signed by the District 5 municipality and its subordinate institutions with companies controlled by businessman Marin Dumitru; the city official allegedly received the money through some close friends and companies, including one controlled by his partner, Oana Niculescu Mizil.
The same sources say the concerned contracts for public works since 2007 amount to nearly two billion lei (1 leu = ca. 0.225 euros).