Exclusive “Clash” at the top » Elisabeta Lipă confronted Bogdan Matei, the head of ANS, upset that he agreed with the decisions of the Court of Accounts. What did he request?
Article by Marius Mărgărit – Published Wednesday, December 24, 2025 5:11 p.m. / Updated Wednesday, December 24, 2025 5:12 p.m.
The sports world was taken by surprise by the “move” of the president of ANS, Bogdan Matei, who suddenly announced, a few days ago, his resignation from the head of this forum.
The change happened less than a year after his appointment, replacing Elisabeta Lipă. And even after the end of the audit of the Court of Accounts at ANS and at several federations.
Following that report, it was found that during the period 2021-2024 (including the Tokyo and Paris Olympics) illegal prizes worth hundreds of thousands of euros were awarded. A case that also came to the attention of the DNA.
Elisabeta Lipă came with a lawyer to the ANS president, but was refused
Bogdan Matei took a public stance against these “bonuses”, as well as others, requested following more or less real international performances in non-Olympic sports.
He specified for GSP.ro that “as long as I will be president of ANS, no accountants, economists, cooks, masons, groundskeepers or others in such categories will see awards. And only those who really won medals for Romania will be rewarded. To be clear!”.
Bogdan-Constantin Matei // photo source: Facebook
It was a direct attack on Elisabeta Lipă, in whose terms (as president of FR Canotaj or ANS) such awards were granted. And now the Court of Accounts has demanded and will oversee the return of that money by the people who collected it.
Bogdan Matei's statement had consequences. Now PSD deputy, Elisabeta Lipă, accompanied by a lawyer, came to the president of ANS. He reproached him for agreeing with the decisions of the Court of Accounts. And he asked him not only to support those premiers, but also to oppose the report.
He would even have suggested how to draw up a series of objections. But he was met with a total refusal from Bogdan Matei. “All her arguments were dismantled, and Elisabeta Lipă left without getting anything“, claim GSP.ro sources.
But a few days after this stormy meeting, in which the head of the ANS was allegedly warned that he would be sued and that he would pay the premiums, Bogdan Matei would announce that he would submit his mandate on December 28, 2025.
The same sources claim that “this kind of pressure was among the reasons why Bogdan Matei decided to give up the headship of ANS. It's true, some more delicate personal problems have arisen and he really needs to be with his family more.
In these moments, he really couldn't have coped on both fronts. Because this report of the Court of Accounts will have much greater effects”.
Prime without any substantiation note
The Court of Accounts admitted that the ANS, according to the law, “could award prizes, but that in most cases, the amounts were much too high. In addition, there was never a substantiation note at the ANS that clearly presented the criteria and for what special merits that money was awarded.
In the case of the accountant, for example, those from the Court of Accounts explained that “her duties were to deal with the financial situation of the rowing federation. He did nothing special, nothing extra, for the performances at the Olympics, just what he had foreseen in the job description. Then why should she be awarded just because she fulfilled her duties?!»”.
The conclusion was that these awards were granted on purely personal, arbitrary criteria, without any document to explain them. And now those who received those bonuses must return them in full. In the case of FR Canotaj, it would be 480,000 euros.
