Gov’t to check on the state aids granted to SMEs after Economy ministry accused the companies of having bought houses

PM Florin Cîțu  has announced that he will send his Control Body to check how the money given as help grants to the SMEs affected by the coronavirus pandemic had been used, adding that he wants to be sure that the funds indeed reached those companies that need this money the most.

His announcement comes after the Economy minister Claudiu Năsui that the government measure to help the companies in distress is not achieving its goal, as more than a half of the requests filed by the SMEs were to purchase houses and apartments.

“After a discussion with the Economy minister about the Measures 3 (grants for the SMEs), I decided that it is mandatory that the Control Body of the Prime Minister conducts an investigation. I want to be sure if this money has indeed reached the companies that mostly need it (…) The public funds are used efficiently and transparently during my term,” Florin Cîțu posted on Facebook.

Economy minister Claudiu Năsui used to state that among those 27,736 requests for aids filed within the Measures 3 programme, 8,275 are requests to buy buildings.

“The state aid Measure 3 is not achieving its goal. Out of those 27,736 applicants, we have 8,275 request for house acquisitions. So, if we report only to the financed projects with the existing budget we have only 3,580 financed companies. Among them, 1,807 are financing houses. Practically, more than a half of the eligible projects are to buy buildings. This was not the goal of this measure. It was meant to be a support measure during the Covid pandemic for companies, not to fund house acquisitions“, the minister argued.