Romanian businessman Ilie Vonica, one of the most powerful local entrepreneurs in the pharmaceutical sector, committed suicide yesterday by throwing himself from the roof of his private house in Sibiu, according to investigators’ statements quoted by Romanian media.

He left a five page letter in which he explained his gesture to the family, according to sources with access to the investigation. The family insisted for the document not to be made public, but some information was leaked to the press.

According to sources quoted by Mediafax, Ilie Vonica allegedly wrote that his wife being arrested in a criminal investigation, at the end of May, pushed him to this gesture. Vonica’s wife, Ioana Daniela Vonica, was one of nine people arrested for 30 days in a fraud case involving face cancer medicine prescriptions, which were being cleared through the Reteta pharmacy chain which Vonica owned. On Monday, June 2, the Bucharest Court of Appeal denied the request to free Mrs. Vonica.

Ilie Vonica was the richest men in Sibiu, with a personal wealth EUR 95 million, according to Forbes Romania. In recent years, he invested some EUR 12 million into a new factory which produces drugs for cancer and opened a private hospital in Sibiu, in 2013, following an estimated EUR 60 million investment.

Vonica was a doctor and started his health business back in 1993. By 2012, his group reached some EUR 300 million in revenues. In addition to the drug factory and the hospital, Vonica owned a drug store chain, five private health clinics a dialysis clinic and several fertility clinics. He also had other businesses in auto retail, tourism and real estate.

editor@romania-insider.com