A second minister in Romania has resigned over an outcry about systematic mistreatment of the elderly at care homes near the capital.
Family and Youth Minister, Gabriela Firea, a former Bucharest mayor, on Friday handed in her resignation over reports that she was well acquainted with the ringleader who used retirees’ money on prostitutes, drugs and parties, DIICOT prosecutors said.
She insisted she was “completely innocent,” but would also step down from leadership positions in the Social Democratic Party.
“ In this atmosphere of complete war against me as a member of the Government, I can’t carry out my job normally,” she said on Facebook.
Earlier this month, it was reported that dozens of elderly and disabled people were being starved, beaten, drugged, tied to their beds, and denied basic hygiene in three private retirement homes run by an organization called St. Gabriel the Brave in the town Voluntari. Firea’s husband, Florentin Pandele is mayor of Voluntari which is in the county of Ilfov.
The news sparked a national outcry that when it was revealed that Labor Minister Marius Budai, whose ministry also has responsibilities in social care issues, had been informed by an NGO about the ongoing abuse as early as last year but did not take any measures to rectify the situation, choosing instead to cut the ministry’s official collaboration with the group.
On Thursday, Budai stepped down after he was accused of ignoring a warning about abusive treatment of elderly and disabled people in private retirement homes in a town just outside Bucharest.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu called it „a gesture of honor” and a normal development „in any solid European democracy.”
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis this week called the case a “national disgrace”. “The measures that will be taken must cut the evil from the root,” he added.
“Guilty are all those who knew and did nothing, did not notify, did not intervene.”
Authorities rushed to close the three retirement homes dubbed the „houses of horror,” and relocate residents, and arrest the owner of St. Gabriel the Brave.
Premier Ciolacu scrambled to contain the political fallout and ordered a sweeping nationwide checks of similar institutions.
More than 1,000 homes were raided by authorities, and 13 have been permanently closed while 43 were temporarily suspended.
Anti-organized crime police detained 26 suspects, and four of them were subsequently arrested. Eleven were placed under house arrest.
