Two employees of the Bucharest-Ilfov Inspectorate for the Emergency Situations (ISU) have been taken on remand in the ‘Colectiv’ club fire. Antonina Radu and Petrica George Matei were the ones that conducted several checks at the ‘Colectiv’ nightclub last year. They had been brought that the National Anti-corruption Directorate by warrant on Monday and investigated for several hours.
Judicial sources told local news agencies the two ISU employees should have made the documentation needed for the ‘Colectiv’ Club’s operating permit.
Paul Gancea, a co-owner of the Colectiv club, said on November 3 that in late 2014, two persons claiming to be from the Fire Brigade came to the club and drew up a file on safety rules.
Attached to the prosecution report is a declaration by Gancea as part of his hearings at the General Prosecution Service.
Asked about the names of the persons who claimed to be from the Fire Brigade, Gancea said “Tonia Radu and a boy named George,” but they were not dressed in uniform and did not present any ID. “I told them that the hall hosts live concerts,” said Gancea.
Military prosecutors within the National Anti-corruption Directorate on Friday opened a file targeting ISU employees under the charge of abuse of office. More precisely they are investigated for not fulfilling the work duties regarding the fire permits granted to the club. DNA military prosecutors seized documents from the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations related to the Colectiv case.
Judiciary sources said that the prosecutors target aspects relating the checks made on fire prevention, namely whether the legal controlling instructions and the methodology were observed.
The DNA’s Service for corruption acts perpetrated by the military was automatically notified of the crime of abuse of position by military staff of Bucharest-Ilfov ISU.
“There are clues and data that the right to live and the bodily integrity of more than 180 persons was harmed and the managers of the Colectiv club made undue gains consisting in allowing its functioning outside the legal framework and in obtaining revenues from the activities conducted under such circumstances,” the DNA said in a release.