Ion Șerb

Ion Șerb, also Ioan Șerb (January 11, 1926 – January 5, 2004) was a general of the Socialist Republic of Romania accused of espionage for the Soviet Union.

Șerb was born in Malu cu Flori, Dâmbovița County.

A declassified CIA document states the following. Romanian counter-intelligence monitored several high-rank officers suspecting them in sympathies for the Soviet Union. In 1971 unauthorized documents were found during the search of the house of Ion Șerb, and in subsequent interrogations he confessed he was recruited by the Soviet military attaché to Romania, Aleksandr Fyodorovich Musatov, a known GRU officer. In order to avoid confrontation with the Soviet Union, Șerb was not prosecuted, but demoted to the rank of private.

After the Romanian Revolution of December 1989, he joined the Socialist Party of Labour, founded by the former communist prime minister Ilie Verdeț and, in June 1996, he was elected mayor of Malu cu Flori. He died in his native commune in 2004.