Baron Lamborghini’s toupee

The “suspended” president of the Prahova County Council, the liberal Iulian Dumitrescu, also nicknamed “Baron Lamborghini”, who is being investigated under judicial control for acts of corruption, having been banned from exercising his position, submitted, on Wednesday, his candidacy for a new mandate at the head of the Council.

“The President of PNL Prahova, Iulian Dumitrescu, submitted today, April 24, the signatures and the candidacy file for a second mandate as head of the County Council. The decision was taken following discussions with the mayors and other local elected officials who asked Dumitrescu to ensure continuity at the county administration level in the context of the projects of over three billion euros from European funds that CJ Prahova managed to attract in his mandate”, announces PNL Prahova, in a press release.

“I enter the electoral competition as a man, openly and confidently, with the determination of a man who has been through the storm and with the conviction that I have the duty to complete projects so necessary for the citizens of Prahoven to have a better life. In relation to the criminal case in which I was involved, I want to tell the citizens clearly: I am innocent, I trust the Justice, I know that the truth will come out and that justice will be done. I want to thank the people of Prahoven for standing by me in this mandate, even in difficult times. I am waiting for them to vote on June 9. Once again, thank you and let’s continue together to take Prahova to the First Place”, said, according to the mentioned press release, Iulian Dumitrescu, the PNL candidate for another mandate at the head of the Prahova County Council.

He also claims that he decided to run out of “respect” for the people of Prague and for the local elected officials.

“It was not a simple decision, but, out of respect for the people of Prahoven and for the local elected officials, I decided to run for a new mandate and to provide continuity at the level of the County Council. Together with these people – mayors, vice mayors, local and county councilors -, we managed to do in 3 years in Prahova what was not done in 30 years before. We have contracts with European funds of over three billion euros. We started extremely necessary infrastructure projects: the belts from Comarnic, Azuga – Buşteni, Mizil, Păuleşti, Câmpina. We modernized the County Hospital and today we have the most modern operating theater in Romania. We started works to expand the sewerage and water supply network in 42 localities of Prahova county, worth almost one billion euros. We managed to build the gas network in the towns of Valea Slănicului and the connection to the gas main follows. We equip schools in 59 localities with state-of-the-art digital equipment, furniture, didactic materials and specialized equipment. They are concrete, punctual and measurable things. They are not words, they are not promises, but realities that measure the things I have done for Prahova as the president of the County Council”, Iulian Dumitrescu said, according to the press release.

He accuses PSD Prahova of “colossal pressure” on him.

“In recent months, PSD Prahova, led by the Cosma Clan, tried to exert colossal pressure on me, throwing rivers of lies into the public space. Moreover, a series of county mayors were threatened, defamed and an attempt was made to block investments from the localities they lead. The goal was to force the mayors to switch to the PSD, which has kept Prahova in place for 30 years. If there hadn’t been these mafia-type attacks on the county mayors, I probably wouldn’t even be a candidate anymore. However, I have the obligation to be in solidarity with the mayors and I guarantee them that the projects started in Prahova will be completed. I, the mayors, local and county councilors, PNL candidates will do everything possible so that the mafia of the Cosma clan does not return to the decision buttons”, Dumitrescu also declared, according to the quoted statement.

Iulian Dumitrescu is being investigated by anti-corruption prosecutors for bribery and false declarations and is prohibited from exercising his position as president of CJ Prahova.

Dumitrescu is accused that, between November and December 2022, he demanded from a businessman to purchase, in exchange for the sum of 47,500,000 lei, the shares held by his brother-in-law in a commercial company, a value overestimated compared to the real value, and would have received by 04.12.2023 the total sum of 16,210,000 lei.

One of the businessman’s companies would have had a contract with CJ Prahova at the time of the claim, and after the acquisition of the shares from Iulian Dumitrescu’s brother-in-law, a new works contract would have been assigned to him with the beneficiary CJ Prahova.

At the same time, the DNA claimed that irregularities were detected in Dumitrescu’s wealth declarations.