A recent audit report at Romania's Tourism Ministry, covering the 2009 to 2012 period, found that acquisitions wasted public money in what the current minister Eduard Hellvig called a 'looting of public funds' during the term of Elena Udrea (in picture) from the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL).

“We found there has been contempt for public money and for the people. The audit shows that the management of programs with funds from the state was not performing and internal control systems for the selection of projects and public acquisitions were not in place. Budgets were poorly managed while contracts were not transparently allotted, deadlines were not respected, especially with contracts with the National Investments House,” said Eduard Hellvig, the current Tourism Minister.

One example is a contract for EUR 15,000 worth of toilet seats between 2009 and 2011. Some of the contract budgets were increased by as much as 47 percent via additional clauses.

The current Tourism Ministry announced contracts with problems will be further analyzed by the Prime Minister's control team and then sent to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate and the Prosecutors, if need be.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Tourism Ministry)