The Supreme Court is set to decide whether to overturn the conviction in another high-profile corruption case

The former Minister of Health, Sorina Pintea, challenged the final sentence of 3 years and 6 months in prison received last year through an extraordinary appeal. The High Court of Cassation and Justice admitted, in principle, the approach taken in the case in which the DNA accused her of receiving a bribe of 34,000 euros, when she was manager of the hospital in Baia Mare.

The cassation appeal filed by Sorina Pintea against the decision of the Cluj Court of Appeal of June 6, 2025 by which she was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison for bribery was registered at the High Court of Cassation and Justice at the end of August. On October 1, the appeal in cassation was admitted in principle, the case being assigned for resolution on the merits to the panel consisting of judges Simona Cristina Crăciunoiu, Luminiţa Cristiu-Ninu, Ana-Hermina Iancu/Eleni Cristina Marcu (the last two ensure the presence of the panel by rotation).

After the debates in support of the cassation appeal that took place on November 28, the court set the judgment for December 10, later the decision was postponed to December 22, respectively January 14.

Before filing the cassation appeal, Sorina Pintea requested the suspension of the execution of the sentence for medical reasons. The request, registered at the Cluj Court 5 days after the former minister was imprisoned at the Gherla Penitentiary, received a trial date in November. Having received a favorable first decision at the supreme court, Pintea announced to the Cluj Court that he was giving up the request to suspend the sentence. The judges took note of his request on December 22, according to the minutes on the court portal.

Caught red-handed taking bribes in his hospital office

Former Minister of Health in the Dăncilă Government, Sorina Pintea was sent to court by the DNA following a flagrant action carried out in February 2020, in her office at the hospital in Baia Mare. Pintea then received a bag with 120,000 lei from a businessman with whom he had a close relationship, the judges stated in the justification of the conviction. The man was the one who brokered the bribe on the Sorin Pintea circuit – businessmen who negotiated contracts with the hospital, the prosecutors accused.

According to DNA, in December 2019, the former minister also received 10,000 euros from another businessman from the same intermediary. The money was from the company involved in the development of the operating theater project – the cardiovascular and thoracic surgery room – of the hospital led by the former minister.

More than 600 messages between Sorina Pintea and the briber were discovered by the prosecutors in the phones of the two.

Sorina Pintea a cited poor health to escape prison

Sorina Pintea suffers from an inflammatory-dermatological, autoimmune disease, according to the decisions of the courts in Cluj that ordered her conviction. She was diagnosed with this condition in November 2019, a month before receiving the first bribe, the one of 10,000 euros.

Both at the Tribunal and at the Court of Appeal, the lawyers asked for a suspended sentence, citing Sorina Pintea's condition. They warned that without proper treatment, the disease would worsen and even put his life in danger.

The last medical documents submitted to the file did not indicate a worsening of the health condition, but a stability. The judges, however, took into account Sorina Pintea's health problems and imposed a sentence aimed at the minimum prescribed by law: 3 years and 6 months.