Gheorghe Nichita

Gheorghe Nichita (born September 15, 1956) is a Romanian politician, who served as the mayor of Iași from 2003 to 2015, when he was suspended over allegations of corruption. A member of the Social Democratic Party, Nichita was the national vice-president of the party, and the leader of the party's county organization.

Personal life Nichita was born in Dorohoi, and trained in Engineering at the Politehnica University in Bucharest (1976–1979), in Economics at the University of Iași (1982–1987), and in Hydrotechnics at the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University (1991–1995); he has been employed by the Iași public administration since 1979.

Political career From 1995 to 2000, Nichita was a member of the Democratic Party. In 1996–1998 and 2000–2003, he was also a member of the city council. Nichita made two unsuccessful runs for mayor of Iași, in 1996 and 2000. On 9 May 2015, Nichita was placed under house arrest.

Nichita was suspected of abusing his position by using local police officers to spy and report on rivals and his girlfriend. Three senior local police officers were also detained. Prosecutors said he abusively obtained confidential information, using police and city hall employees, for personal gain. On 22 May 2015, Nichita was suspended from his job as mayor of the city. Mihai Ceaușu (17 years old that time) was the person who called the police on him, after Nichita refused a festival project on his name. As of October 2023, he is serving his sentence at the Vaslui Penitentiary, but he may be conditionally released pursuant to a judge's decision.