UPDATE/Chief of Defence Staff Gheorghita Vlad under criminal investigation for complicity in usurpation of office
Chief of Defence Staff Gheorghita Vlad has been placed under criminal investigation by prosecutors of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) in a case in which he is accused of complicity in usurpation of office, after intervening to increase budget-funded places at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports so that 20 candidates no longer paid tuition fees, with three of them set to join the National Defence Ministry (MApN) after graduation.
According to a DNA release sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday, military prosecutors within the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, the Service for conducting criminal investigations in corruption cases committed by military personnel, informed General Gheorghita Vlad of his status as a suspect in a criminal case handled by the unit, for committing the offence of complicity in usurpation of office, if the public official has obtained an undue benefit for himself or for another person.
Anti-corruption prosecutors state that in July 2025, General Vlad Gheorghita, through acts of complicity, allegedly facilitated the issuance and signing by Lieutenant General Iulian Berdila, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff for Operations and Training, of a request addressed to the Ministry of Education and Research regarding the increase of state-funded places at the National University of Physical Education and Sports in Bucharest, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, exceeding the limits of authority provided by law, as the request was exclusively the responsibility of the Human Resources Management General Directorate, a central structure within the MApN.
'The official document issued under the conditions described above would have led to the decision to increase the number of state-funded places by 20, by transferring candidates initially admitted on fee-paying places to the newly added budget-funded places,' the investigators said.
By this method, the DNA says, the legitimate interests of the National Defence Ministry would have been harmed by affecting institutional relations and, correspondingly, an undue benefit would have been created for the 20 candidates through their transfer from tuition-paying places to the newly added state-funded places, with three candidates to be appointed as officers within the National Defence Ministry upon completion of their university studies. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Mihai Stoica; EN - writing by: Rodica State)
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