Romanian Labor Minister Marius Budai has resigned after he was accused of ignoring a warning about abusive treatment of elderly and disabled people in private retirement homes in a town just north of Bucharest.
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.
The news sparked a national outcry that when it was revealed that 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 his ministry’s official
Announcing Budai’s upcoming resignation on Thursday, Ciolacu called it „a gesture of honor” and a normal development „in any solid European democracy.”
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, when asked about the situation at the NATO summit in Lithuania, called it a “national disgrace”. “The measures that will be taken must cut the evil from the root,” Iohannis said.
“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.
The prime minister’s leftist Social Democratic Party remained under fire following media revelations that the owner, Stefan Godei, had close ties with Gabriela Firea, the minister of family and youth in the current government and a former Bucharest mayor.
Firea is also married to Florentin Pandele, the longtime mayor of Voluntari.
Both Firea and Pandele have denied nvolvement in the „homes of horror” scandal, claiming they have been the targets of political revenge.
The case was uncovered by two Romanian investigative media outlets, Centrul de Investigatii Media and Buletin de Bucuresti earlier this month who worked with a NGO.
