Gheorghe Nichita (born September 15, 1956) is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n politician, who served as the mayor of

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

from 2003 to 2015, when he was suspended over allegations of corruption. A member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, Nichita was the national vice-president of the party, and the leader of the party's county organization.Iași Mayor Gheorghe Nichita, detained by DNA
at romaniajournal.ro

Personal life

Nichita was born in

Dorohoi Dorohoi () is a city in Botoșani County, Romania, on the right bank of the river Jijia, which broadens into a lake on the north. The city administers three villages: Dealu Mare, Loturi Enescu, and Progresul. History Dorohoi used to be a market ...

, and trained in Engineering at the Politehnica University in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

(1976–1979), in Economics at the

University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in , Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former was converted to a university, the University of , as it was named ...

(1982–1987), and in

Hydrotechnics Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the move ...

at the

Gheorghe Asachi Technical University Gheorghe is a Romanian and Aromanian given name and surname. It is a variant of George, also a name in Romanian but with soft Gs. It may refer to: Given name * Gheorghe Adamescu (1869–1942), Romanian literary historian and bibliographer * ...

(1991–1995); he has been employed by the Iași public administration since 1979.

Political career

From 1995 to 2000, Nichita was a member of the Democratic Party. In 1996–1998 and 2000–2003, he was also a member of the city council. Nichita made two unsuccessful runs for mayor of Iași, in 1996 and 2000. In 2000, Nichita switched to the

, and three years later became the interim mayor after his predecessor, Constantin Simirad (in office 1991–2003), was appointed Romanian ambassador to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as the second president of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, ...

. In 2004, he was elected as the mayor of Iași, and then re-elected in 2008 and 2012.

Corruption allegations

On 1 May 2015, Nichita was detained during the night by the

National Anticorruption Directorate The National Anticorruption Directorate (), formerly National Anticorruption Prosecution Office (), is the Romanian agency tasked with preventing, investigating and prosecuting Political corruption, corruption-related offenses (such as bribery, g ...

(DNA), after more than seven hours of hearings on suspicion of abuse of office. Next day, a court ruled he would be investigated under judicial control, meaning he was banned from leaving the city and had to report to police. On 9 May 2015, Nichita was placed under house arrest. Nichita was suspected of abusing his position by using local police officers to spy and report on rivals and his girlfriend. Three senior local police officers were also detained. Prosecutors said he abusively obtained confidential information, using police and city hall employees, for personal gain. On 22 May 2015, Nichita was suspended from his job as mayor of the city. Mihai Ceaușu (17 years old that time) was the person who called the police on him, after Nichita refused a festival project on his name. He was sentenced to a prison term for corruption, and was conditionally released from Botoșani Prison in October 2021. On 30 August 2022, Nichita was sentenced to a 5-year term by the Iași Court of Appeals for incitement to abuse of office. As of October 2023, he is serving his sentence at the Vaslui Penitentiary, but he may be conditionally released pursuant to a judge's decision.

References

External links

Gheorghe Nichita's blog
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Gheorghe Nichita, în an electoral: 70.000 RON, în depozite, și o mașină nou-nouță, în garaj
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nichita, Gheorghe 1956 births Living people People from Dorohoi Mayors of Iași Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni Politehnica University of Bucharest alumni Romanian politicians convicted of corruption Romanian white-collar criminals Prisoners and detainees of Romania