The National Anti-corruption Directorate announced on Friday that it has started the prosecution of 56 suspects, individuals and companies, including former mayor Marian Vanghelie, local councilor at the District 5 City Hall until 2020, and former mayor Daniel Tudorache, current PSD deputy, for illegal, overrated acquisitions made by institutions subordinate to the local councils of the District 1 and 5.
The prosecutors say that the group would have been established and coordinated by Marian Vanghelie and would have managed to obtain more than 13.5 million euros from these contracts.
The acquisitions were for tablets for students (75,000 pieces), biodecontamination nebulizers (1,200 items) and thermal scanners (200 items).
Anti-corruption prosecutors say that, taking advantage of the budget allocations for the purchase of goods and services and the programs approved by the Local Councils of districts 1 and 5, for purchases necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic, the organized criminal group coordinated by Marian Vanghelie, would have overrated the items to be bought with the aim of defrauding public funds.
For instance, a nebulizer would have paid 3.5 times the price of the original supplier.
Regarding the tablets award contracts, in order to give an appearance of legality, the civil servants from AUIPUSP Sector 1 and ECONOMAT Sector 5 Bucharest, with the support of the public procurement expert, consultant of the two contracting authorities, would have drawn up documentation false open tenders and allegedly simulated open tender procedures for awarding the respective contracts, manipulating the Electronic Public Procurement System (SEAP).
In reality, the awarding of these tablets would have been done prior to the simulation of tender procedures, through illegal negotiation procedures without prior publication.
“The aspects mentioned above would not have been achieved if the suspects, public officials, had not committed several crimes of forgery and had not violated their duties, provided by the primary legislation, in relation to the organization of tenders for the award of the respective contracts. As a result of the crimes committed, undue benefits were obtained for the members of the group in the total amount of 67,811,280 lei”, DNA argues.