According to G4Media and Info Sud-Est, one of the businessmen targeted by DNA’s investigation in the Port of Constanța on Monday morning is Ion Dumitrache, head of the Constanta municipal organization of PSD.
Dumitrache is an influential and prosperous local businessman, a business partner of Felix Stroe, deputy chairman of the parliamentary commission of control of the Foreign Intelligence Service, whose appointment G4Media and ISE wrote about here and here.
The two own the Eurosantis pharmacy chain in Constanța, as well as one of the city’s oldest taxi firms, General Taxi. One of Dumitrache’s firms is a shareholder in another firm in which former Constanța PSD chiefs Radu Mazăre and Nicușor Constantinescu also appear. Ion Dumitrache also owns, among others, Midia Năvodari Shipyard and a local newspaper.
Ion Dumitrache is one of the leaders of PSD Constanța although he lost the local and county elections for 8 years in favor of the PNL. He also opposed the return of former mayor Decebal Făgădău to PSD and his candidacy in 2024, although the mayor had the support of PSD chief Marcel Ciolacu. See details here.
Ion Dumitrache’s daughter, Cristina Dumitrache (42 years old), has been a parliamentarian for 4 terms, and G4Media and ISE have shown how she is one of the richest parliamentarians in the south-east of Romania.
How they returned to the forefront of local politics
Info Sud-Est revealed in 2016 how one of Dumitrache’s firms had a monopoly on the supply of medical products for Constanța’s Child Protection Service.
Dumitrache and Stroe returned at the helm of PSD Constanța after criminal cases sent former mayor Radu Mazăre, former county council head Nicușor Constantinescu and fugitive businessman Sorin Strutinsky (under house arrest in Italy) behind bars.
Stroe and Dumitrache only managed to win the local elections in 2016, when Decebal Făgădău entered the race as interim mayor and without a solid political opposition. Subsequently, PSD, with the two leaders at the helm, lost the City Hall and the County Council in both 2020 and 2024, each time in favor of PNL.
However, the two are still in charge of PSD Constanța, and the tacit collusion with the PNL, especially with the incumbent mayor Vergil Chițac, of which ISE wrote about here, continues to work.
- Just one example: in 2023, PNL mayor Vergil Chițac initiated a project in which he sold a beach plot to the head of the PSD municipality, Ion Dumitrache. It should also be noted that in the last period, Chițac and Dumitrache would have developed a very close relationship, as political sources from the two parties explained to ISE.
Moreover, lately, Ion Dumitrache’s momentum and influence in PSD Constanța have increased, overshadowing Felix Stroe, the head of the county branch of the PSD.
In this political context, Cristina Dumitrache was placed third in the Chamber of Deputies in the 2024 elections, and this has been one of the recent reasons for the dispute between Dumitrache and Stroe. Cristina Dumitrache has never won a seat as an MP.
Cristina Dumitrache graduated from high school in Constanța, the most prestigious one, the National College „Mircea cel Bătrân” (maths and physics), then studied abroad: she went to Italy (Universita di Bologna) on an Erasmus scholarship, continued her high school studies in the UK at the Cambridge Center for Sixth Form Studies, and then graduated in „Business Studies and Foreign Languages” at the University College of London. She claims to speak and write very well in English, French, Italian and Spanish.
In terms of parliamentary work, Cristina Dumitrache has been an active MP (albeit with limited speaking time), with a number of laws enacted, such as the allergy testing fee for allergy sufferers, which she has spoken about on numerous occasions in the public arena.
Context
The DNA is conducting 41 searches in the Port of Constanta and other locations (Eforie, Bucharest, Năvodari, etc.), according to Info Sud-Est reporting. The investigation is targeting influential local businessmen, influential former customs officers in the Port and one of the heads of PSD Constanta, Ion Dumitrache, as well as George Vishan, commercial director in the Port of Constanța, the one who makes the decisions when the current director of the port is missing and a close relative of the former local administration Radu Mazăre – Nicușor Constantinescu.
The charges brought forward by the prosecutors are giving, taking bribes and abuse of office. The alleged bribes amounted to almost €7 million, according to G4Media and ISE, money allegedly traded for benefits, land, berths and contracts in the Port of Constanta. Prosecutors used undercover officers, according to G4Media and ISE sources.
The DNA prosecutors’ investigation would also target Ion Dumitrache, the head of the PSD municipality, according to political sources consulted by G4Media, as well as influential local businessmen and former customs officers, and officials from the National Company Administration of Maritime Ports Constanta (CN APMC).According to information from G4Media and ISE, it is the trio Pilcă-Bogatu-Dumitru, known locally for the influence they exert in Constanta Customs.
- Aurelian Pilcă and Eugen Bogatu have been in criminal trouble before. Pilcă was acquitted in 2011, and in another case, Eugen Bogatu was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison in 2015. G4Media and ISE showed in September 2023 how DNA has only finalized one case with a prison sentence in the last 20 years. In other cases, courts have handed down acquittals or suspended prison sentences.
Among the businessmen under investigation are Vasile Costea and Jean Paul Tucan, a former candidate for the Năvodari mayor’s office, according to G4Media and ISE. –
- Vasile Costea is a well known local businessman, „raised” in the Mazăre era, who was also indicted for bribing the former head of the Constanța Court of Appeals, Nicolae Stanciu, father of former Constanța DNA chief Mihai Stanciu. Vasile Costea and Nicolae Stanciu were fully acquitted in 2022. Vasile Costea, DNA prosecutors allege, allegedly had a whole strategy and a complex bribery circuit to obtain various benefits in the Port of Constanța.
The company that manages the Port of Constanta has transmitted, at the request of G4Media and ISE, that the current management is „providing DNA prosecutors with all the requested documents, all the information necessary to support the investigation”:
- „Concerning the DNA action triggered this morning in the Port of Constanța, we inform you that the Administration of Sea Ports provides all the necessary support to the judicial bodies. The General Manager and the Financial Director are providing the DNA prosecutors with all the requested documents and all the necessary information to support the investigation. Any information on this subject can only be provided, in accordance with the law, by the authorized institutions. The company’s management reaffirms its determination not to accept any deviation from legality and will always take the appropriate measures in accordance with the provisions of the judicial authorities”, is the response sent by CN APMC to G4Media and ISE.
The case is being investigated by DNA prosecutors in Bucharest and represents one of the most important actions in the Port of Constanta. Read the details here.
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