The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anticorruption Center completed the investigation into the fixed tender contests in the healthcare sector and sent the case to court.

The case involves 30 health professionals, including the former minister of health, national and local medical institution managers, persons holding high-ranking posts in the health sector and a well-known businessman. These are accused of misuse of power, negligence, active corruption, avoidance of paying custom duties, falsification of declarations and swindle.

It was determined that a number of tender contests to purchase medical equipment and consumables were fixed. As a result, damage of over 150 000 000 lei was caused to the state by favoring one economic entity. The prosecutors ordered sequestrating the suspects’ property, including cars, land and bank accounts, so as to recover the money.

The criminal case was started a year ago. On April 8, 16 persons were arrested within a broad operation that included about 70 searches. The number of persons investigated in this case later rose to 30. The suspects face fines and up to ten years in jail.