BUCHAREST, Romania — Prosecutors detained Romania's previous finance minister Wednesday on suspicion that he took bribes, including gold bars and a painting by French Impressionist Auguste Renoir, when he was mayor of a southern town.
Prosecutors said Darius Valcov had hidden the painting, three kilograms (6.6 pounds) of gold and stashes of cash worth $410,000 in a friend's safe from 2011.
He was detained for 24 hours.
Valcov resigned as finance minister on March 15 after prosecutors charged him with taking 2 million euros ($2.1 million) in bribes when he was mayor. He denies wrongdoing.
In another development Wednesday, a parliamentary vote ruled against lifting the immunity of a Romanian senator from the ruling party who prosecutors say is suspected of corruption.
Senators voted 79-67 in favor of lifting the immunity of Dan Sova, a former transportation minister, but fell short of the 85 votes required.
The vote was criticized by the U.S., British and Dutch embassies in Romania who said the legislature should not prevent anti-corruption probes.
Prosecutors want to arrest Sova on suspicion that as a senator he illegally earned 3.5 million lei ($870,000) as a lawyer in the privatization of several electricity companies in his constituency and destroyed computer files to cover his tracks. He denies wrongdoing.
After the vote, Sova left leadership positions he has held in the ruling Social Democratic Party.
Prosecutors in Romania have launched a series of high-level corruption investigations in the past year.
Romanian deep-tech startup .lumen, the developer of what it says are the world’s first AI-powered glasses for the blind, has secured a new investment from EIT Urban Mobility, the European innovation community focused on advancing sustainable and inclusive urban mobility solutions. The value of the new funding round was not disclosed. The investment aligns with […]
The health spending per capita in Romania was the lowest in the EU, with spending less than half the EU average in 2023, the recently released report, State of Health in the EU - Romania Country Health Profile 2025, shows. At the same time, life expectancy in Romania is 5.1 years below the EU average, […]
Romania’s annual inflation rate stood at roughly 9.8% in November 2025, similar to October, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Food prices increased by 7.6% last month, while services rose roughly 11% and non-food goods climbed 10.7%. The consumer price index rose by 0.42% in November compared with October, while […]
Three French soldiers deployed in Romania as part of NATO’s Multinational Battle Group at Cincu intervened to save a truck driver following a serious traffic accident on the A3 Bucharest–Ploiești motorway, the Romanian Ministry of Defense said. The incident occurred earlier this week as the soldiers were traveling toward Ploiești and witnessed the truck crash...
Eight contemporary art galleries will present the works of the artists they represent at the third edition of the Smallest Art Fair in Town, an event dedicated to works on paper. This edition showcases works “investigating the state of wandering, disorientation, and rediscovery in the face of uncertainty.” Under the title In Dark Woods, A […]
Parents everywhere are asking an important question: What skills will truly prepare a child for a world defined by rapid change, global uncertainty, and the rise of artificial intelligence? For decades, schools focused entirely on academics. Today, research from neuroscience, performance psychology, and leading universities shows a different reality: The students who thrive long-term are […]
