The investigators say they contracted significantly more vaccine doses than necessary, causing damage of over EUR 1 billion to the state budget, reports Romania Insider.
Liberal Florin Citu was prime minister for almost a year, from December 2020 to November 2021, and is currently a senator. Vlad Voiculescu was minister of health between December 2020 and April 2021, succeeded by Ioana Mihaila, who led the ministry until September 2021.
DNA said the investigation targets the acquisition of significantly more Pfizer and Moderna vaccine doses in the period between January and May 2021, which occurred in the absence of documents or assessments to justify the purchase.
More specifically, the prosecutors say two of those targeted by the criminal investigation, with help from the third, agreed to purchase an additional 52.8 million vaccine doses, although the 37.58 million doses bought before January 1, 2021, would have been enough to vaccinate more than 23 million people. The extra vaccines cost more than EUR 1 billion before VAT, which constitutes a loss to the state budget.
Anticorruption prosecutors asked the Senate and the Presidential Administration to lift the immunity and allow the investigation of former prime minister Florin Citu and former health ministers Vlad Voiculescu and Ioana Mihaila for charges of abuse of office, as the three allegedly contracted significantly more COVID-19 vaccine doses than necessary in January-May 2021. This resulted in EUR 1 billion damage to the state budget.
Following the Presidential Administration’s announcement, Ioana Mihaila said in a post on social media that she decided to suspend herself from the position of member of the REPER National Bureau. „I have always done my work honestly, respecting the law and the public interest. I trust that a fair and transparent investigation will prove these things,” reads the message.
