The former manager of SJU Ploiești Bogdan Nica was sent to court by the DNA for bribery and abuse of office
The DNA prosecutors claim that the former manager of the Ploiesti County Emergency Hospital Bogdan Nica, sent to court for acts of corruption, allegedly received 50,000 lei from a company that benefited from contracts with the hospital, notes News.ro.
According to DNA, in the period 2021-2024, Bogdan Nica, as manager of the “Dr. Constantin Andreoiu” Ploiești County Emergency Hospital, would have intervened, repeatedly (four material documents), in the running of public procurement procedures for medical equipment at “substantially overvalued” prices. It is about equipment for radiology, neurosurgery, orthopedics and cardiology.
The prosecutors state that, through these purchases and through the approval of related payments, an estimated damage of 28,700,705 lei would have been produced.
DNA also shows that, in this way, Nica would have ensured an undue material benefit to the bidders, namely the company Velmed International SRL – alone or in association with other companies – to which the hospital would have awarded the contracts in violation of the law.
The DNA prosecutors state that Nica would have benefited from the support of Mihăiţă-Sorin Iordache, economist, later director of financial accounting within the hospital, tasked with carrying out his own preventive financial control over the documents in which the patrimonial operations of the hospital were recorded, and of the beneficiaries of the contracts, the defendants BDA and Velmed International SRL.
Amount received as bribe
“In connection with the awarding of subsequent public procurement contracts, among those previously mentioned, the defendant Nica Bogdan-Cristian, in his capacity as manager of the hospital, with reference to the fulfillment of some documents that were part of his duties, allegedly received, on two occasions (May 18, 2022 and August 13, 2022), for himself, in a bank account, the total sum of 50,000 lei, which he did not it was due, from the BDA, the administrator of the company Velmed International SRL, beneficiary of the respective contracts”, says DNA.
The damage retained for the damage to the Emergency County Hospital “Dr. Constantin Andreoiu” Ploiești, estimated at 28,700,705 lei, represents the difference between the price paid by the hospital and the market price of the purchased equipment, according to the prosecutors. The hospital became a civil party in the case.
In order to recover the damage, in the case, insurance measures were ordered on some goods belonging to the defendants, natural persons.
The indictment was sent for trial at the Prahova Court, with the proposal to maintain the preventive measures ordered.
A doctor by profession, Bogdan Nica is one of the prominent figures of PNL Prahova. He was the party's candidate in the last local elections for the position of mayor of Ploiesti, losing to an independent candidate. In the past, Nica was secretary of state in the Ministry of Health, president of the National Authority for Consumer Protection.
Other defendants in the file
In the same case, Mihăiţă Sorin Iordache, economic director at the “Constantin Andreoiu” County Emergency Hospital in Ploiesti, was referred to justice.
The businessman Dumitru Alexandru Bucur and his company, Velmed International SRL, are also accused in the case.
SC Velmed International is a company registered in Bucharest and has a turnover of tens of millions of lei, supplying medical equipment.
In 2020, HotNews wrote that, against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ploieşti County Emergency Hospital concluded a contract of 330,000 lei with the company Velmed Internaţional for the supply of 10,000 FFP2 masks with a valve, the price of one mask being 33 lei.
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Velmed's interest in doing business with the Ploiesti County Hospital continued in the years following the pandemic, when the company wanted to sell cardiology medical equipment to the hospital in Ploiesti.
In 2022, Velmed contested a procedure for awarding a contract aimed at the delivery of such equipment to SJU Ploieşti, later renouncing the appeal.
This year, a local online portal noted that Bogdan Nica is being investigated in a corruption case with damages of over 28 million lei, and according to the same source, the current manager announced that the hospital will be a civil party in the case against the former manager of the hospital.
