The National Integrity Agency (ANI) has notified prosecutors to check the wealth of Baia Mare mayor, Catalin Chereches, as the integrity inspectors have found out the mayor cannot justify RON 2.7 million of his incomes.
ANI has found out there is an unjustified difference of RON 2,741,318 between the wealth and the incomes of Catalin Chereches, mayor of Baia Mare, Maramures county, during June 26, 2012 and December 31, 2017, according to a press release.
At the same time, integrity inspectors say that the mayor has declared a false information in his wealth statements of June 2017 and June 2018, namely a loan of EUR 500,000 personally granted by Chereches.
ANI has notified the Prosecutor’s Office upon the Baia Mare Court to probe into suspicions of perjury in continued form.
Cherecheș has been informed on the assessment procedure, on the rights he has (to be represented or assisted by a lawyer and to present information that he considers necessary), as well as on the existence of this gap in his declared incomes.
“Cherecheș Cătălin has not filed any stance to the assessment file. ANI has sent to mayor Chereches six requests to present justifiable documents or relevant information in this case“, the press release says.
However, the mayor provided a retort later on, claiming his mother had donated him EUR 1.5 million.
“My mother has granted me some loans up to EUR 1.5 million over one year. In 2009, based on a notarized contract of donation, this money, originating from the sale of a house, has been certified as donation”, Chereches said.
His mother, Viorica Chereches, a doctor by profession, is a deputy and member of the National Liberal Party. After the EP elections though, Viorica Chereches, has been proposed from exclusion from PNL, on the ground that she had not been involved in the electoral campaign and that she had been rather close to the Social Democrats.
A former Liberal mayor, Catalin Chereches was caught red-handed while taking RON 30,000 three years ago. Anti-corruption prosecutors charged him with bribe taking in continued form. He was suspended from the mayor office and placed under preventive arrest on April 27, 2016 and imprisoned at Gherla Penitentiary.
A year later, in 2017, he was released, placed on judicial control and allowed to resume his mayor seat.