Mayor Ciprian Ciucu was being questioned by prosecutors over bribery charges after he accused the Romanian president of meddling in party business.
Bucharest Mayor Ciprian Ciucu was named a suspect in a bribery case on Thursday, days after accusing the President Nicusor Dan of trying to sabotage the Liberal Party in an ongoing political crisis.
G4 Media and Mediafax reported that Ciucu faces charges that he received a kickback over a permit he issued when he was mayor of district 6.
There was no immediate statement from the anti-corruption agency where he arrived Thursday afternoon.
Ciucu, is deputy chairman of the Liberal Party and an ally of Ilie Bolojan, the outgoing premier. Bolojan is a political rival of the president, while his government was dismissed in a no-confidence vote last month, with Dan’s apparent backing.
Arriving at the anti-corruption prosecutors’ headquarters Thursday, Ciucu was reported as saying: “I don’t know anything.”
G4Media said the investigation began in 2025. The timing of his questioning raised questions whether it was politically motivated in the middle of a fraught six-week political crisis.
Ciucu was Sector 6 mayor from October 2020 to December 2025, when he was elected Bucharest mayor.
The Liberals will hold a congress on Sunday after President Dan nominated another liberal Adrian Veștea to be prime minister, a decision that was heavily criticized by Bolojan and Ciucu.
