Former manager of the Romanian Lottery, Gheorghe Benea and Ovidiu Ripanu, ex-head of the Acquisition Department have been detained by the anti-corruption prosecutors for bribe taking and abuse of office. Several people in the company are also investigated in this case, while another six are suspects, including the daughter of the former manager of one company. Ovidiu Ripanu is also investigated for money laundering.
“On May 17, 2010, the management of the National Romanian Lottery assigned to a car sale company (car dealer) administered by suspect Sorescu Nicolae Virgil, a contract of providing 182 cars in buy-back regime, worth RON 13.3 M to replace the Romanian Lottery’ old car park. The contract has been initially assigned with breaking all legal provisions, by fake auction particularly to favor that company, which thus sold the Lottery much higher cars than the market price. For instance, defendants Benea Gheorghe, Rîpanu Ovidiu and suspect Lăzăreanu Remus initiated the acquisition procedure without estimating the value of the contract, without a market study to determine the estimated value of the newly bought vehicles, “ reads the DNA press release.
The total prejudice brought to the Romanian Lottery mounts to RON 2,314,707. Prosecutors claim that in exchange for assigning the contract for renewing the Lottery’s car park, several people at the helm of the company would have received money and goods.