INVESTIGATION. Discovery of foreign journalists who searched for “Romania” in the criminal file opened after a big corruption scandal
Versius robotic surgical system. Illustrative image. PHOTO: Šálek Václav / ČTK / Profimedia
The media in Croatia picked up the recent investigation published by Snoop about the medical robots at the Bucharest Military Hospital and discovered, in a file, fictitious invoices regarding alleged purchases in Romania and Bulgaria.
One of the most read publications in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Index, published transcripts from the criminal case in which the Serbian businessman Sasa Pozder was convicted. It is the Balkan partner of the Romanian company Medical Innovation Solutions, which sold three Versius robots at the price of Da Vinci to the Military Hospital in 2025. Amount: 10.6 million euros.
The Serb appears in the photos with his business partner from Romania, Laura Galea, who sold the robots to the Military Hospital. The companies of the two have the same name. Galea is the daughter of the businessman Cătălin Galea, tried for 9 years in the Barocamera file, in the 84th term of court.
The file from Croatia
Pozder and his Croatian partner, Hrvoje Petrač, created a WhatsApp group that was an important piece of evidence in the case in which they were convicted.
According to Index, the file contained evidence that Pozder tried to offer a bribe of 100,000 euros for the KBC hospital in Split to purchase a Versius robotic system.
The two were gathering information about the possible entry into the Balkan market of the Da Vinci robot, the most well-known and performing on the market.
“I have an email from Intuitive (no Da Vinci manufacturer) that until 2030 they will not do anything in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, not even in Slovenia, where they sold one”, is one of the messages on the WhatsApp group.
In the file, the publication Index discovered that the companies of Pozder and Petrač were fictitiously invoicing alleged brokerage activities with Romania and Bulgaria. Justified by purchases that did not exist in reality. Pozder admitted that the money was divided among the convicted businessmen.
In Romania, they had a sister company as of January 1, 2023.
Pozder was sentenced to 2 years and 9 years in prison in Croatia. He will begin serving his sentence in April after recently undergoing surgery. He has already spent 8 months in prison, a period that will be reduced from his total.
Read what the Croatian press has written.
