[4] He was born in Lusaka, Zambia, where his parents were temporarily working as geological engineers,[5] and in 1991 completed secondary studies at the Mathematics-Physics High School in Bucharest.

[7] He remained suspended until September 2006, when he and fellow dissident member Raluca Turcan were ejected entirely, having been warned in July to cease making public statements against party decisions and having continued to do so.

In May 2008, he was the subject of a criminal investigation for "abuse of office against the public interest" by the National Anticorruption Directorate for his role in signing a contract in 2000 between Loteria Română and the Greek firm Intralot that caused the former to incur losses of over €120 million.

[15][16] In summer 2009, he drew attention for his attempts to end the work of the parliamentary committee investigating abuses by Youth and Sport Minister and PD-L colleague Monica Iacob Ridzi.

His verbal interventions were also noted, with one Social Democrat claiming he had insulted seven or eight of the committee's members;[17][18] at one point, he addressed chairwoman Alina Gorghiu as "missie" and made mention of her "lovers".