Romanian doctor to stand trial for 185 counts of bribery

A doctor from Sinaia mountain resort will stand trial for 185 counts of bribery and three counts of money laundering, according to a statement from the General Anticorruption Department. The doctor was working at the Territorial Cabinet for Medical Expertise and Work Capacity Recovery in Sinaia. He was detained in mid-February this year after being caught taking 19 bribes in a single day. He was then placed under house arrest. The doctor, who was in charge of evaluating the people’s work capacity in order to reclassify or maintain their invalidity degree, received a total of 185 bribes from 39 people, with a total value of RON 73,614 (some EUR 16,000). Early retirees due to illness who wanted to get new certificates to prove their status had to pay bribes to the doctor. The prosecutors also found that the doctor had also built or purchased five properties between 2009 and 2015, directly or via intermediaries, according to the General Anticorruption Department. “Between 2006 and 2017, the defendant earned RON 6.54 million in addition to his salary income, out of which RON 4.71 million represents the material object of the money laundering offenses, this amount also being the result of taking bribes, as resulting from the evidence administered in this case,” reads the statement. Speed record: A Romanian doctor was receiving 10 bribes per minute Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com