A new sexual assault scandal has come to light, this time in an institution subordinate to the Ministry of Culture. Several female employees from the Art Museum in Bucharest sent no less than seven complaints. The women accuse the director of the institution, Călin Stegerean, of several sexual assaults or inappropriate behavior. The last memorandum arrived in April at the Ministry of Culture, and yesterday they were forwarded to the chancellery of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. The Ministry of Culture reacted to the accusations, and confirms these memos.
The director of the Art museum has admitted that there are several memos against him, but rejects the accusations of a sexual nature.
“There are no allegations of the nature you have communicated to me. But during April some memoranda related to a statement of moral harassment, from my side to the employees of the education section, were submitted to the ethics advisor of the institution, as well as to the Ministry of Culture. To these memoirs. the ethics advisor responded by organizing a mediation meeting attended by the representative of the trade union confederation to which the museum union is affiliated and a program of measures was established, which is monitored,” he told Digi24.
Stegerean was accused of sending a banana to a female employee. “No, I didn’t send it. I did an exchange, how to say, of food products. She offered me, because I had certain preferences, some bananas, and obviously at some point I did the same in return,” the director replied.
Asked if he has pressured or asked for sexual favors, Călin Stegerean, Director of the Art Museum said: “No. So this was recorded in the minutes that we concluded during the mediation, and not once was there any mention of these aspects.”
The Ministry of Culture confirms all the memos written by the institution’s employees, who filed a written complaint and accused the museum director of abuse.
“In the framework of the older conflict within the MNAR, 7 memoranda were submitted invoking dysfunctionalities, discrimination and one that refers to actions with a sexual nature”, says a press release sent by the ministry. The ministry will send the control body, and the results will be communicated in the next period.