Failure for Kovesi’s team, in Romania

Spectacular reversal of the situation. The Cluj Court of Appeal annulled, on Wednesday, the sentence of four years in prison received in the first instance by the businessman Cătălin Hidegthe owner of Sanimed International, in a file related to a fraud with European funds worth three million euros. This is the first file investigated in Romania by the European Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), led by Laura Codruța Köves.

Cătălin Hideg is the one who denounced the DNA on the former SRI generals Florian Coldea and Dumitru Dumbravă.

Hideg, sent to court in October 2022, was sentenced in February 2024 by the Bucharest Court to four years imprisonment for the use of false documents and money laundering. He had to pay to the Ministry of Investments and European projects the amount of 14,440,459 lei.

At the appeal, the file arrived at the Bucharest Court of Appeal, but the High Court of Cassation and Justice was relocated to the Cluj Court of Appeal, and this ordered the annulment, and the process will resume from scratch.

‘Admits the appeals made by the defendants HRC and SC SII SRL against the criminal sentence no. 200/F from February 16, 2024 pronounced by the Bucharest Court, which it abolishes, with the consequence of sending the case for re -examination to the Cluj Court. It maintains the insurance measures established by the Ordinance no.1.000032/2021 from 02.05.2022 of the European Prosecutor’s Office – EPPO – the central office of Bucharest, regarding the assets of the defendants HRC and Sisrl, until the amount of 14,440,459 lei in order to guarantee the repair of the offense. Final ‘, it is shown in the decision of the Cluj Court of Appeal.

According to EPPO, the fraud retained in the charge of Cătălin Hideg and the company Sanimed refers to the allocation of funds for a research and development center in the field of medical recovery and reconstruction.

The Recumed project, funded by the EU, aimed at creating a research center, and to win a tender, the businessman has submitted several fake and inaccurate statements and documents. These were related to the procedure for granting the contract for the provision of medical equipment and construction works necessary for the project.

Between 2018 and 2020, the businessman obtained non -reimbursable loans of over three million euros.

However, he did not act in isolation, but in complicity with Raluca Ortensia Aelena, the representative of a company from Spain, which was to equip the recovery center and execute the construction work, says EPPO.

The investigators suspect the two that they have prepared false statements attesting that they are not in conflict of interest, and thus apparently fulfilled the legal conditions regarding the transparency, legality and competition in the procurement procedure. Moreover, the procedure for awarding the contract was simulated by submitting fictitious counter -offers on behalf of other companies and by submitting false documents that proved that the Spanish company fulfilled the eligibility conditions regarding the technical capacity to carry out the contract.

According to prosecutors, the suspects went even further and, after obtaining the European funds, the Romanian company transferred the money to the accounts of the company in Spain. The amounts then reached other companies, with headquarters in Cyprus and Portugal, and finally a large part of the money was returned to the initial beneficiary of Romania, by issuing false invoices.

The investigation showed that the real value of the medical equipment and products purchased for the project was about four times lower than the declared, and the initial procurement prices were negotiated and established by the first suspect. Subsequently, the value of the products was overestimated by successive transactions from the initial suppliers through companies in Cyprus, Portugal and Spain, so that it is finally sold to the beneficiary in Romania at overvalued prices.

Raluca Ortensia Aelena reached an agreement to recognize the guilt with the prosecutors and received a conviction with suspension.

Cătălin Hideg became known after his company sold 1.7 million masks at overvalued prices in the pandemic. The company had as its object of activity the distribution of alcoholic beverages and foods.