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Baia Mare mayor Catalin Chereches, who was under court control and under a ban to leave the country, fled Romania on Friday before being handed down later in the day a final five-year jail sentence for corruption. Chereches left Romania via the Petea border crossing point with Hungary, using the ID document of a relative carrying the same name, general inspector with the General Border Police Inspectorate (IGPF) Victor-Stefan Ivascu told a press conference on Saturday.
"Chereches left the country through the Petea crossing point at 07:49 using the ID of a relative. At the reported time, a vehicle registered in Romania with two people inside - the driver who was a taxi service provider, and a passenger on the right seat - rolled in for clearance. They both presented Romanian identity cards, with the passenger producing a document in the name of Chereches Catalin, who lives in a European state," Victor-Stefan Ivascu said, explaining that both the Romanian and the Hungarian border police officers proceeded to identifying the occupants of the car and subsequently gave them all-clear to enter Hungary, Agerpres informs.
The IGPF official mentioned that data and information is being exchanged with external partners to find the fugitive mayor, for whom an all-points bulletin was issued on Friday, after police arrived at his home to enforce the court detention warrant didn't find him there.
The Cluj Court of Appeal rejected on November 24 the mayor's appeal and upheld the sentence handed down in February 2022 by the Cluj Court, modifying just a few provisions regarding the complementary punishment, i.e. increasing from 4 to 5 years the period during which Chereches is under several prohibitions (to be elected to a public authority or to any other public office, to hold a position that involves exercising state authority, to hold the office of mayor).
