The mayor of Mioveni, Ion Georgescu, who was caught red-handed by DNA prosecutors when he was returning 10,000 euros from a 30,000-euro bribe received from a doctor in order to be employed at the hospital in Argeș, was detained on Wednesday night for 24 hours.
Ion Georgescu, the mayor of MioveniPhoto: AGERPRES
The mayor will be brought before the court on Thursday with a proposal for preventive arrest.
Ion Georgescu, in office since 2006, is accused of demanding a bribe of 30,000 euros, of which he received 10,000 euros, from a doctor to intervene for his employment at the hospital in Mioveni, judicial sources told HotNews.ro.
The mayor arrived at the DNA headquarters for hearings on Wednesday evening. Asked by a reporter why he is being accused, the mayor replied: “I didn’t take, I gave”, without offering any other explanations, according to Digi24.
The mayor demanded a bribe of 30,000 euros from a doctor to whom he had promised to help him get a job at the hospital in Mioveni. From this money, he received 10,000 euros. Because he did not resolve the employment of the doctor who gave him the bribe, Ion Georgescu had to return the money to him.
Georgescu was caught red-handed by prosecutors on Wednesday evening, in the headquarters of Mioveni City Hall, where he was returning the 10,000 euros to the doctor.
The hospital in Mioveni is the first built from scratch in the last 30 years in Romania. Its reception took place in September 2019, but the unit is not working even now with all sections open. The hospital in Mioveni has 6 floors, 250 beds and numerous departments, including an Emergency Department, Intensive Care and an operating room with 4 rooms.
The construction of the City Hospital in Mioveni began in March 2016, and the financing was fully provided by the PNDL program, the investment being 68 million euros.
The hospital has 23 wards, but only nine are open, and the recruitment contests were canceled during the pandemic, according to a report published by Digi 24 in September.
“The situation is desperate. The mayor said there might be no more money. Of course, medicine is expensive, and especially medicine for infectious diseases and intensive care is very expensive. The expenses we had were with many zeros”, said the manager of the hospital, Horia Trăilă.
Ion Georgescu (63 years old) leads the town of Mioveni since 2006, when he won his first term as mayor. Until 2006, he was, for 6 years, deputy mayor of the locality.
Between 1985 and 2000, Ion Georgescu worked at the Automobile Dacia-Renault plant, as “canteen warehouse manager”, according to his CV.
The mayor has the following studies in his CV:
- Master in Financial Business Management, University of Craiova
- Graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, majoring in Management, within the University of Craiova
- Professional trade school IHR, Bucharest;
- Pitesti Economic High School
However, he does not mention in what period he did these studies, stating in his CV that they are listed “in chronological order”.
According to his CV, Georgescu has been a PSD member since October 1998. He is vice-president of PSD Argeș and president of PSD’s Mioveni branch.
The PSD Argeș organization decided, shortly after the flagrant, to exclude Georgescu from the party.