Seven Sibiu police officers detained in permit bribery probe; prosecutors seek arrests

Searches and detentions

Prosecutors from the Sibiu Tribunal prosecutor's office carried out 14 home searches on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, as part of Operation Jupiter, a national operation coordinated by the General Prosecutor's Office. Nine suspects were held for 24 hours that day: seven police officers who worked in the permit, vehicle registration and population registration services at the Sibiu Prefecture, and two intermediaries. Investigators from the General Anticorruption Directorate, the Alba Iulia Special Operations Brigade and the Sibiu County Police Inspectorate took part in the operation. The prosecutors' statement, as relayed by Mediafax and G4Media, set Thursday, 5 November as the date for deciding on further preventive measures. Ziare.com reported 13 searches instead of 14, and gave the ages of the two intermediaries as 56 and 47.

How the alleged scheme worked

Prosecutors describe a 57-year-old man as the centre of the network. Between June 2025 and October 2026, he allegedly demanded and in some cases received between 100 lei and 1,500 euros, promising to get officers to speed up vehicle registration certificates and identity cards, or to secure an 'Admis' grade in the practical driving test. The same man is accused of repeatedly passing on bribes of 50 to 2,000 euros, paid by people seeking documents, to the seven officers. A 46-year-old man allegedly helped connect the people involved in some cases. Prosecutors describe the handover of the money to the officers as a conspired act, meaning it was arranged in advance between the parties.

Police officers7

Other suspects2

Police officers

7

Other suspects

2

Data from the article text

Charges and requested arrests

The case covers more than 170 offences: influence peddling, purchase of influence, taking and giving bribes, complicity in corruption offences and usury. The 57-year-old is separately accused of lending money at interest to several people in Sibiu County without authorisation, and prosecutors say the repetition of these loans shows that lending was his habitual activity. On Thursday, 5 November 2026, prosecutors announced that criminal proceedings had been opened against all nine people. Adevarul.ro reported the same day that prosecutors have asked for preventive arrest of six people, five of them police officers. None of the suspects has been tried, and no court ruling on the measures sought has been reported.

What happens next

The prosecutors' decision on further preventive measures was set for Thursday, 5 November, the day after the 24-hour detentions. Because the detentions were limited to 24 hours, the status of the nine suspects depends on how the courts respond to the requests for arrest. Adevarul.ro's report puts the number of arrest requests at six, so the number of people whose custody is under judicial review is smaller than the nine originally detained.