Prosecutors: President of the Romanian College of Psychologists signed two contracts with himself

Mihai Anitei, the president of the College of Psychologists of Romania, will stand trial as he is charged with conflict of interest in repeated form and the use or presentation of false, inaccurate or incomplete documents and statements. During the implementation of a EU-funded project for the specialization of career advisors, which was implemented by the National Agency for Employment in partnership with the College of Psychologists of Romania, Mihai Anitei, as president of the Psychologists’ College, has awarded and concluded two contracts with himself. Moreover, he also awarded and signed a contract with his wife, according to a statement from the National Anticorruption Department. “Specifically, Mihai Anitei on behalf of the College of Psychologists of Romania concluded two one-year service contracts (November 1, 2010 – November 1, 2011) with psychologist Mihai Anitei, under which he was supposed to work 1,596 hours as technical coordinator in the project, respectively 1,008 hours as expert for the development of an ethics guide for the training of trainers,” reads the DNA statement. Under another contract, his wife was supposed to work 672 hours as supervisor in the same project. Thus, Mihai Anitei and his wife got a total of RON 336,147 (some EUR 75,000). To justify the money received under the two contracts he concluded with himself, between November 2010 and January 2012, Anitei presented 28 reports with inaccurate and false data to the National Agency for Employment, on the number of hours he worked as an expert. According to DNA, he couldn’t have worked so many hours, as it was physically impossible. Summing up the hours he had worked for the EU-funded project with the other hours for which he was paid to do other work (full-time or associate professor at faculties, company employee, or president of the College of Psychologists of Romania), it appeared that Anitei had worked more than 20 hours per day (including Saturdays and Sundays), or even more than 24 hours in one day. Thus, DNA says that Mihai Anitei received money from EU funds without providing the hours mentioned in the reports, causing a damage of some RON 307,000 (EUR 38,000). Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com