The criminal case started against ex-deputy minister of finance Maria Caraus over acts of corruption in the attempt to rig public tender contests was sent to court. If she is found guilty of passive and active corruption, she will serve 7 to 15 years in jail and will be fined 400,000 to 500,000 lei or will be banned from holding particular public posts or performing particular activities for 10 to 15 years, IPN reports.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, this summer the deputy minister, knowing that 15 million lei from the reserve fund was allocated by a Government decision for equipping the National Clinical Hospital, tried to convince persons from the hospital’s administration that the transfer of this money depends exclusively on her decision and they should offer her a recompense for the hospital to benefit from this money. She also promised to favor the allocation of a similar sum for the repair and renovation of the hospital. The decision was to be taken in September-October 2017, when the state budget was to be rectified.
The deputy minister also requested the person in charge of the medical institution to favor representatives of building companies at the public tender contest that was to be held on October 11, 2017. For choosing these as winners, Maria Caraus promised 5% of the allocated sum to the institution’s representative and she intended to take another 5%. According to prosecutors’ estimates, the recompense would have totaled 425,000 lei.
Maria Caraus was suspended from post at the request of prosecutors and is now held on remand. The representatives of the building companies that were to take part in the October 11, 2017 tender contest will be tried in a separate case as these plead guilty and concluded blame acceptance agreements.
Maria Caraus, who had served as deputy minister of finance since 2010, pleads not guilty.
