Judges Virginia Maria Bărăscu and Violeta Elena Georgescu Ashemimry from the Bucharest Court of Appeal closed, after 10 years, the case of Marian Vanghelie, accused of taking a bribe of 30 million euros. At the first instance, the former mayor of Sector 5 was sentenced to 11 years and 8 months in prison and was ordered to pay 15 million euros in damages.
Vanghelie was acquitted by the two judges of the charges of abuse of office and money laundering, and for the charges of taking bribes, they ruled the termination of the criminal process because the deeds were time-barred. The Bucharest Court of Appeal also decided to confiscate 13.7 million lei from the former mayor, although the Bucharest Tribunal ruled that he should pay 15 million euros in damages, which is five times less.
In addition, the CAB decided to return the value of the „Bulevard” hotel in Predeal, a property sold in the insolvency procedure for 3.2 million lei, a sum deposited in an ANABI account. The money was returned to Calex Business Group SRL, which was owned by Calex Business Limited, an offshore company registered in Delaware, USA. Its shareholders were Marian Vanghelie and a certain Ion Popescu. Currently, Calex Business belongs to Tiberiu Bodea, a close associate of Marian Vanghelie.
„The special confiscation measure regarding the following sums and real estate is lifted:
- The sum of 13,313,000 lei from S.C. CALEX BUSINESS GRUP S.R.L., representing the equivalent of crediting;
- The sum of 3,851,000 lei from S.C. BUCUREȘTI S.A., representing the equivalent of crediting;
- The property located in Bucharest, a villa with 318 m2 of land and over 400 m2 of built area from S.C. București S.A.
- The property located at Kogălniceanu Square no. 9, Sector 5 (commercial space) from S.C. CALEX BUSINESS GRUP S.R.L.
- The sum of 2,085,000 lei and 124,000 euros from Fashion Brand Management, representing the equivalent of crediting, and as a consequence, the attachment on the sum of money 1,277,400.68 lei, imposed by the ruling of 18.10.2024, is lifted and released to Fashion Brand Management,” the court decision states.
CAB also decided: „Lifts the provisions regarding the maintenance of the attachment concerning the sums of money and assets belonging to the interested parties: SC Fashion Brand Management SRL., S.C. București SA, S.C. CALEX Business Grup SRL, and SC PC Splai S.A.; defendant Niculae Mircea Sorin and witness Bodea Tiberiu concerning the shares of S.C. Calex Business Grup S.R.L., and also lifts the attachment on the sum of 2,150,800.53 lei and releases it to S.C. Calex Business Grup SRL.”
Fashion Brand Management is owned by Mircea Sorin Niculae, the cousin of former mayor Marian Vanghelie. Similarly, SC București SA is owned by the same individual.
PC Splai SA is owned by Akta a Radwan, Mariana Carla Dinu, and Adrian Murgoci, the latter two being defendants in the case.
At the last hearing of the case, on February 15, the judges Virginia Maria Bărăscu and Violeta Elena Georgescu Ashemimry from the Bucharest Court of Appeal pretended to judge. They knew that the facts were time-barred. They shouted at the lawyers and the few defendants present in the courtroom.
Shortly before, on February 11, the Section for Judges of the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) decided to delegate Judge Georgescu Ashemimry to the position of President of the I Criminal Section of CAB, replacing her colleague from the panel, Bărăscu.
On February 18, the CSM judges also transferred Virginia Bărăscu to the Judicial Inspection (IJ) for a period of 3 years. At IJ, the salary is higher by a third, and the employees of the institution benefit from a per diem for the transfer.
On February 15, Vanghelie did not show up at the trial, even though he knew it was the last hearing. His lawyer argued that he was in the emergency room because his blood pressure had risen, and he was feeling unwell. The whistleblower Marin Dumitru was also ill. Vanghelie requested a postponement of the trial, but the DNA opposed it.
Thus, another defendant, Sorin Ștefan Ciocan, a former friend of Vanghelie, was heard. He claimed that the Bulevard hotel in Predeal belonged to him from 2002 to 2008, when he sold it because he no longer had money to invest in it. In his statement at the Bucharest Court of Appeal, he said he was wrong when he had confessed to the DNA that the property was Vanghelie’s and that his then lawyer, Sofica Dumitrașcu, had suggested he say so.
Ciocan had the money for the hotel, plus he borrowed from his family. 1.7 million euros in cash. In his first statement to DNA, Ciocan claimed that Vanghelie was the owner of the hotel. „We were friends, we did business together. My wife worked at the Sector 5 City Hall,” said Ciocan at the last hearing in February 2025.
A successful delay At the first instance, the case lasted 6 years. At the Bucharest Court of Appeal, it lasted another four. It passed through several panels of judges, and the case was restarted each time on the grounds that Vanghelie’s rights had to be respected.
The case was judged in turn by panels formed by judges Valerica Voica and Carmen Gohoreanu, then by judges Carmen Gohoreanu and Cătălin Toma Răileanu, later by magistrates Andreea Ionescu and Cătălin Toma Răileanu, and finally by judges Anastasia Gargale and Cătălin Toma Răileanu.
On September 27, 2023, Judge Cătălin Toma Răileanu was transferred to the CSM. Furthermore, the transfer of Judge Anastasia Gargale from the Bucharest Tribunal to the Bucharest Court of Appeal expired after it was not extended by the CSM in April 2023.
Finally, the case was taken over by judges Violeta-Elena Georgescu-Ashemimry and Virginia Maria Bărăscu.
In June 2015, Marian Vanghelie was indicted by the DNA. According to the prosecutors, between 2006 and 2014, Marian Vanghelie, in his capacity as mayor of Sector 5 in Bucharest, helped by Mircea-Sorin Niculae and partially by Laura Ciocan, requested and received material benefits from businessman Marin Dumitru amounting to approximately 30,403,000 euros (representing a 20% „commission” from earnings).
These benefits were demanded and received by Vanghelie for awarding public procurement contracts from the Sector 5 City Hall and public services subordinated to the Local Council of Sector 5, bypassing legal requirements, to companies controlled by businessman Marin Dumitru, and also for authorizing the payment for the works related to these contracts (the total value is approximately 738,019,000 lei).
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