Romania’s General Directorate for the Authorisation of Gambling (ONJN) can’t seem to catch a break from a myriad of controversies engrossing it over the last few years.
The latest case involves none other than the regulatory body’s very own Deputy Director General, Ana-Maria Badea, who is the second-in-command after current President Vlad-Cristian Soare.
On Thursday, local media reported that prosecutors from the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) sought a 30-day preventive arrest warrant for Badea in relation to repeated bribery offences.
The allegations claim to have uncovered a system where ONJN officials received sums of money to act in favour of specific operators within the gambling sector. In Badea’s case, she is accused of being the recipient of €2,500 (£2,100) in bribes to expedite the approval of gambling games.
Her husband and several other ONJN inspectors have also been placed under supervised release for alleged corruption offences. It is understood that DNA inspectors conducted multiple searches of the ONJN’s headquarters in Bucharest.
ONJN’s President Soare commented: “There is an ongoing investigation targeting four officials from the control and authorisations departments…I assure you that ONJN cooperates with the criminal prosecution bodies and will provide all the necessary support for finding the truth.
“What I can communicate, however, is that we have started a process of institutional reorganisation, based on the criterion of integrity, and this action only confirms to me that we are on the right track.
“It is an important and necessary step to have a credible institution. For me, the integrity of the institution is a priority. ONJN must operate with zero tolerance towards acts of corruption.”
Hot summer for ONJN
Badea is the second high-ranking ONJN official that has been a target of bribery investigations in the span of two months.
Earlier in June, Odeta Nestor was also brought into custody. She was the ONJN President between 2013 and 2017, and served as the Director of the Romanian industry trade body Association of Remote Gambling Operators (AOJND), from where she was reportedly dismissed following her arrest.
The claims made against her were that she allegedly facilitated a €100,000 bribe between an ONJN official and a Bulgarian citizen acting on behalf of an unnamed gambling company to cover for money laundering violations.
Odeta was subsequently put under house arrest that was due to expire on 29 July, pending proceedings. No official information has since been released whether she’s been cleared of any wrongdoing.
Lastly, in 2025 an independent audit into ONJN uncovered almost €1bn (£855.5m) in missing taxes, which led to the resignation of then-President Gheorghe Gabriel Gheorghe and the subsequent appointment of Soare.
