Marius Traian Tămagă, the son of former PSD senator and Argeș prefect Constantin Tămagă, was convicted at first instance for extracting mineral aggregates without a water-management permit. PressHub, carried by G4Media, writes that Pitești Court gave him a criminal fine of 15,000 lei, and Logistic Agregate Muntenia SRL, the company he ran, one of 75,000 lei. The ruling is not final.

Criminal sentence no. 806, of 4 May 2026, calculates Tămagă’s fine as 150 days at 100 lei, and the company’s as 150 days at 500 lei. The offence is the one in article 93, paragraph 2, letter b of the Water Law. Each defendant owes the state 1,150 lei in court costs.

Officers from the economic-crime service of the Argeș police opened the case on their own initiative in January 2023. Prosecutors say that, between March and 18 November 2022, the company excavated ballast from the terrace of the right bank of the Mărăcineni reservoir, without the water-management permit. The area identified is 10,240.23 square metres, different from the one in notice no. 8 of 13 January 2022. The estimated volume is 14,758 cubic metres. The Argeș-Vedea Water Basin Administration joined the case as the injured party.

The company had been taken over in 2021 by Tămagă and another associate. The perimeter also failed to match the exploitation permit issued by the National Agency for Mineral Resources on 10 March 2022. Prosecutors split that part off, under the mining offence of working without a permit. The defence asked for an acquittal: there would be no proof that Tămagă excavated himself, the paperwork would have been left to a consultant before he took over the firm, and if the offence had ended in March 2022 the limitation period would have run out in March 2025. The prosecutor asked for a fine. Tămagă was sent to trial in November 2023 and gave no statement.

His sister, Elena Diana Tămagă, has led the High Court’s administrative and fiscal contentious section since 1 April 2024, for three years. The judges’ section of the Superior Council of Magistracy decided the appointment on 28 March 2024. PressHub writes that the file was registered at the Bucharest Court of Appeal on 5 November 2026, number 20095/280/2023, after a transfer decided by the High Court. On 22 September, at the Pitești Court of Appeal, the defence had asked for a postponement because on 6 October the High Court had the transfer request on its list. Metro News confirms the move from the Argeș courts to Bucharest.

At the hearing of 10 November 2026, panel S1 C12 A of the Bucharest Court of Appeal postponed the case for clarifications about the company. The next hearing is 8 December 2026. The person and the company are the appellants. The water administration remains the respondent.

Image: Wikimedia Commons — the Palace of Justice in Bucharest, 25 April 2015 (Mihai Stancu, CC BY-SA 4.0). The photo is not from the November 2026 hearing.

Sources consulted: Brother of an ICCJ section chief convicted over ballast — G4Media; The ballast case, at the Bucharest Court of Appeal — PressHub; The High Court moved the case to Bucharest — Metro News.