Mayor of Slănic Moldova detained by DNA following flagrant offence: €21,000 bribe for contract worth 1.46 million lei
Benone Moraru, mayor of Slănic Moldova, has been detained by DNA after allegedly receiving €6,000 in a flagrant operation. The total bribe is said to amount to €21,000, relating to a public contract worth over 1.46 million lei.
Mayor Benone Moraru caught in flagrant with €6,000: DNA seeks 30-day preventive arrest
Benone Moraru, mayor of the town of Slănic Moldova in Bacău County, was detained by prosecutors from the National Anti-Corruption Directorate on 27 October 2026 after investigators claim to have caught him red-handed receiving money from a representative of a private company, reports Jurnalul.ro.
The criminal case concerns a service provision contract worth 1,464,349.43 lei, concluded during 2025 between Slănic Moldova Town Hall and a commercial company. The contract covers emergency intervention work to restore drinking water supply capacity from drainage at the town level.
Two tranches of money, a total circuit of €21,000
According to anti-corruption prosecutors, the first sum of money was allegedly received by Moraru on 23 July 2026: €15,000, considered by investigators as the first instalment of the alleged bribe linked to the awarding, extension and execution of the contract. At that time, part of the work covered by the contract had already been reimbursed by the local authority.
The second tranche — €6,000 — was allegedly received on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, from the same person. This moment represented, according to DNA, the ascertainment of the flagrant offence.
"Subsequently, on 27 October 2026, the accused Moraru Benone received from the same person the sum of €6,000, representing another tranche of money in connection with the execution of that contract, circumstance in which anti-corruption prosecutors ascertained the flagrant offence", the DNA statement reads.
Combined, the two tranches totalled by prosecutors reach the total value of €21,000, a sum that investigators associate with the contractual relationship between the private company and the local authority in Slănic Moldova.
Criminal action and presumption of innocence
Prosecutors from the Corruption-Fighting Section have initiated criminal proceedings and ordered the detention of the official for 24 hours, beginning on 27 October 2026. Moraru is being investigated for the offence of accepting a bribe.
Investigators were to present the mayor to Bucharest Court on 28 October 2026 with a proposal for preventive arrest for 30 days. The decision on the preventive measure remains the responsibility of the court.
DNA clarified that the accused has been informed of his procedural status and criminal charges, in accordance with article 309 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The institution emphasised that detention and initiation of criminal proceedings does not equate to a conviction.
"We clarify that the initiation of criminal proceedings is a stage of the criminal process governed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, intended to establish the procedural framework for the administration of evidence, activity which cannot, in any circumstance, infringe the presumption of innocence principle", according to the DNA statement.
Source: Jurnalul.ro