Mayor of Drăguțești detained over embezzlement of 565,000 lei in Gorj County
Ion Dumitru Popescu, mayor of Drăguțești commune, was detained on Thursday following a search at a public institution in Gorj. The estimated loss exceeds 565,000 lei.
Gorj mayor detained after allegedly failing to report embezzlement of over half a million lei
Ion Dumitru Popescu, mayor of Drăguțești commune in Gorj County, was detained on Thursday, 25 June 2026, in connection with a criminal case opened for failure to report, according to judicial sources cited by ziare.com.
Police officers from the Economic Crime Investigation Service of Gorj carried out a search on the morning of the same day at the headquarters of a public institution in the county and executed three bring-in warrants, the Gorj County Police Inspectorate (IPJ) informed.
"The activities are being conducted in a criminal case in which investigations are being carried out on suspicion of the offence of failure to report, an offence provided for and punished by the Penal Code," declared Ioana Sacagiu, spokesperson of IPJ Gorj.
According to her, the investigations established that a person in a management position in a public institution allegedly failed to report to the criminal prosecution bodies regarding the existence of evidence relating to the occurrence of loss in the assets of a company placed under the authority of the local public administration.
"There is suspicion that the administrator of said company unlawfully appropriated sums of money from the unit's cash box, with the estimated loss being over 565,000 lei," Sacagiu specified.
Following the investigations, a 52-year-old man from Drăguțești locality with a management position in the institution in question was ordered detained. Judicial sources confirmed that the detained person is the mayor of the commune himself, Ion Dumitru Popescu.
The actions were carried out under the coordination of the competent prosecution unit, with the activity of police officers from IPJ Gorj targeting both the search of the institution's headquarters and the bringing of persons of interest before investigators.
Source: Google News RO — Crime (ro)