Mayor Antonie Solomon was caught by anti-corruption prosecutors following records of Penescu’s talks with a friend, in which he confessed that he had bribed Solomon, the daily Adevarul writes. The case is interesting both for its legal details and its political implications. As Romania Libera notes, ‘’after Mircea Gutau, the mayor of Ramnicu Valcea in southern Romania, Solomon is the 2nd mayor from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to end up behind bars over the last 2 weeks.’’

The fact that prosecutors have not spared the members of the ruling party suspected illegal activities is a surprise to everyone, considering that the National Anticorruption Department has repeatedly been accused of obeying orders from president Traian Basescu and the Liberal Democratic Party. The mayor now under investigation is the same person who gave Traian Basescu considerable political and financial support in the December election campaign, the newspaper Gandul writes. Mayor Antonie Solomon exaggerated his support when he threatened poet Mircea Dinescu, a key figure of anti-Communist dissidence, with expulsion from Romania if he did not give up his criticism against president Basescu.

The poet now claims that he warned Solomon that Basescu has no scruples and is quick to abandon people who are loyal to him. The daily paper Romania Libera retraces Solomon’s political career. Elected mayor from the now-in-opposition Social Democratic Party in 2004, he rapidly jumped into Basescu’s boat when the latter was elected president. Gandul notes that the investigations of the National Anticorruption Department targets all big city mayors, be they from the Social Democratic Party or the Liberal Democratic Party.

However, while the Social-democratic mayors of Constanta, Iasi and Pitesti, Radu Mazare, Gheorghe Nichita and Tudor Pendiuc, respectively, are still under investigation, the Liberal Democratic team made up by Solomon, Gutau and Gheorghe Falca, the mayor of Arad, in western Romania is being torn to pieces. Dumitru Sechelariu, the former Social Democratic mayor of Bacau, in the east, is also being investigated for alleged illegal activities.