Dutchman prosecuted for bribing Romanian Health Ministry officials

Dutchman Dick Van Halewijn, representative of medical equipment distributor Dutchmed BV, is being prosecuted by the National Anticorruption Department DNA for allegedly bribing officials within Romania’s Health Ministry to favor his firm in public auctions organized by the ministry, according to DNA. The authorities have placed him under judicial control – the equivalent of parole, which means he has to be reachable at any moment by the Police, inform the authorities of any accommodation changes, as well as stay within a certain territorial boundary, set by the authorities. Most often this means not being allowed to leave the city. The prosecutors found that Van Halewijn has set up a system that was ensuring him the support of the officials involved in procurement procedures organized by the Ministry of Health, so that his company would win a privileged position on the Romanian market of medical devices. In achieving this objective, the defendant supposedly instructed an intermediary to identify those officials with power of decision and later give them money or other goods so they would facilitate the company’s participation in the public tenders organized by the Ministry of Health for the award of contracts in a project co-financed by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank. Dick Van Halewijn allegedly offered money and even a luxury trips to Amsterdam and Italy as bribes, according to DNA. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com