Nela Vica Andries, sister of Gabriela Firea, the Minister of the Family, worked at the Social Assistance Department of the Voluntari Town Hall from April to December 2021, when she even became head of service within the institution subordinated to her brother-in-law, Florentin Pandele, the mayor of Voluntari, shows Buletin de Bucharest. The period in which she worked in the institution coincides with the period when her colleagues conducted seven checks in one of Cristina Dumitra’s centers.
Even though on July 9, 2023, Gabriela Firea wrote on Facebook that her sister, Nela Vica Andries (formerly Vrânceanu), “NEVER RUN a social service that had duties in Voluntary or Ilfov in the case of the elderly, the disabled”, the statements is contradicted by the documents that journalists obtained from the Department of Social Assistance of the city of Voluntari.
During these 9 months, colleagues of Nela Vica Andries carried out 7 checks in one of Cristina Dumitra’s centers, part of the centers for vulnerable people in Ilfov, currently investigated by DIICOT.
However, the results of these checks remain unknown. It is though certain that the Cristina Dumitra center continued to function, even if previously, between February 2020 and March 2021, at least 21 people died in this center, according to the documents obtained by the Media and Buletin de București Investigation Center.
Each death was counted in an “attendance book”, left behind by the patron of the center during an untimely move in April 2022, when Cristina Dumitra took her beneficiaries to another center, 5 minutes away, on Camil Petrescu street 5- 7.
“According to an official answer obtained by the reporters Libertatea, Centrul de Investigații Media y Buletin de Bucharest from DAS Voluntari, during the period in which she worked at this institution, Nela Vica Andries was first chief inspector at the Department of Strategies, Programs, Projects, Partnerships, Relations with NGOs within the Child and Youth Protection Service of the institution, after which she became the head of the Assistance and Social Protection service. In her initial capacity, that of principal inspector, her first assignment, according to the job description, was “developing projects, programs, related to the restructuring, organization and development of social assistance programs intended for children, families, elderly people, people with disabilities, any other people at risk,” the investigative journalists said.
Through the job description, Gabriela Firea’s sister was also responsible for advising and guiding private bodies, respectively the centers that are the subject of the DIICOT investigation.
At the same time, according to the third point in the same job description, chief inspector Nela Vica Andries had to develop projects and programs intended to support people in difficulty. In point ten it is stated that the same Nela Vica Andries, together with the specialized services of the institution, was supposed to monitor “community social services provided to the categories of disadvantaged people of the city of Voluntari, in collaboration with the NGOs active in the social field or directly by these, by subcontracting services based on special laws in the field of social assistance”, as well as to deal with “gathering the necessary information for the creation of the materials”.
A lucky sister
When she won the competition for the position of chief inspector at DAS Voluntari in 2018, Gabriela Firea’s sister suspended herself from that position. She has not worked there for almost 2 years – out of 54 months, Nela Vica Andries actually worked for 8 months between May and December 2021, during which she earned 56,000 lei (7,000 lei/month), according to her wealth declarations.
At the end of 2021, Nela Vica Andries became the head of the Assistance and Social Protection Service of DAS Voluntari. A month later, in January 2022, it was “suspended upon request” for more than a year. He returned to work in February 2023, but only for a few days, after journalists published the series of investigations about the centers in Ilfov.
Also in February, Gabriela Firea’s sister was transferred to the General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection (DGASPC) Ilfov. Even though the journalists requested – through 544 – to be told how Gabriela Firea’s sister got to DAS and how many people participated in the 2018 contest, the Directorate did not answer this question. The reasons for his suspension from office were not disclosed either.
Regarding the seven checks at one of the centers led by Cristina Dumitra, DAS Voluntari informed them that the Social Assistance and Protection Service, headed by Nela Vica Andries in December 2021, carried them out at “the homes that had their headquarters in the city of Voluntari, Bulevardul Eroilor, no. 90, Ilfov county”.
“Furthermore, from the information and documents consulted by the reporters, no nursing home has ever operated at the address Bulevardul Eroilor no. 90.
We did, however, go to the field again on Wednesday. In Bulevardul Eroilor 90 there is an old house in which there could not be any center, so we are, logically, dealing with an error in the document that was sent to us. The reporters also found other documents that contradict the information received from DAS. More precisely, Gabriela Firea’s sister, when she still bore the last name Vrânceanu, was an inspector at the social assistance under her brother-in-law since 2017, although the institution speaks of her employment only in 2018. The declarations of assets and interests completed by her clearly prove this”, the journalists also reported.
Firea retorts
However, the Minister of the Family, Gabriela Firea, insists that her sister, Nela Vica Andries, has never had duties regarding adults or people with disabilities, claiming that “only those who want to convince us that white is black see something else”.
“My sister NEVER LEAD a social service that had duties in Voluntary or Ilfov in the case of the elderly, disabled people. I come back with this clarification! I have read the official response of the Voluntary Social Assistance Directorate, published today in the press, and I think it is clear. Only those who want to convince us that white is black see something else. Nela Vica Andries has never been the head of the Voluntary Social Assistance Department and has never had duties regarding adults or people with disabilities.
In addition, the document clearly states that between August 2018 and April 2021, Mrs. Nela Vica Andries had her employment suspended. She worked in an executive position until December 2021 when she was promoted to the position of Head of Service – Social Assistance and Protection Service with duties only on children and the relationship with NGOs.
From January 2022, until February 2023, employment relationships were suspended upon request, so he did not work in this position either! In conclusion, between August 2018 and February 2023, my sister actually worked at DAS Voluntari for only eight months and in the field of children, not adults or people with disabilities. Even since February 2023, when she transferred to DGASPC Ilfov, my sister has not worked in the field of elderly or disabled adults, but has duties on educational programs for children”, says Firea’s statement.
Both as evil as Hitler.