Anti-corruption prosecutors are conducting searches on Thursday in a bribery case in which the president of the Prahova County Council, Iulian Dumitrescu, first vice-president of the PNL and one of the most influential leaders in the party, was also targeted, judicial sources told mass media.
Iulian Dumitrescu is suspected of taking bribes and making false statements in connection with the award of a contract, and prosecutors are searching his home in a residential complex in Bucharest, according to the cited sources. Sources cstated that several members of Dumitrescu’s family, including his sister, were searched. The mentioned sources showed that the investigation would concern the way in which the contract for the design and execution of the belt of the city of Mizil in Prahova county would have been concluded.
Iulian Dumitrescu reacted through a message posted on Facebook, in which he says that he will make all information available to the prosecutors and that he will not “hide behind any political or administrative position”.
“I provide the prosecutors with all the information and data they need. I am collaborating with the state institutions to clarify this situation as quickly as possible. I will not hide behind any political or administrative position. When this phase of the investigation is completed, I will communicate transparently to the public about what happened. I have nothing to hide”.
Who is Iulian Dumitrescu?
Dumitrescu – who had two mandates as a senator from Călăraşi and Prahova – is president of PNL Prahova and first vice-president of the party, being in charge of the Prahova County Council since 2020.
Iulian Dumitrescu developed his political career in Călăraşi county, and several years ago he became president of PNL Prahova. Under his leadership, PNL won the presidency of the Prahova County Council in the elections of September 27, 2020.
Elected first vice-president of the PNL in September 2021, in the “winning team” of Florin Cîțu, Iulian Dumitrescu – one of the most influential leaders in the PNL – was in the books, in October 2021, for the position of Minister of Transport in the minority Government PNL-UDMR with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă.
According to a PRO TV investigation from May 2023 – “Albanezu Network” -, Dumitrescu did business in Călărași from 2007 until 2009, together with his associate signing contracts worth approximately 5 million euros. In 2008, Dumitrescu transferred his shares to his associate, but would have continued to sign contracts with the County Council as a director, including in 2009. In 2012, he ran for the position of senator from Călărași, and his supporter was even the signatory of the asphalting contracts, Răducu Filipescu, the president of the County Council.