Romanian PM dismisses control authority's VP one day after appointing her

Romania’s Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu appointed Ionica Sfetcu as the new vice-president of the Sanitary-Veterinary Authority (ANSVSA) on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Prime Minister decided to dismiss her from the new position, reports local Mediafax. The appointment was a controversial one as Ionica Sfetcu, who was an inspector within the Bucharest Sanitary-Veterinary and Food Safety Authority, was sent to court in February 2015 for allegedly taking bribes from supermarkets, together with other colleagues. The prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Department (DNA) charged her with 19 acts of bribery. “Between 2008 and June 2010, the defendants Hofman (former Iancu) Andreea-Vicentia, Macarie Gabriela, Porumbel Bogdan, Draghici Elena, Stanciu Ciprian-Stefanita, Mitrana Aurica, Pauna Aida-Gabriela, Sfetcu Ionica, and Dulgheriu Maria, as inspectors of the Bucharest Sanitary-Veterinary and Food Safety Authority, repeatedly claimed and received money and goods from the main supermarkets in the country or other businesses, during or outside sanitary-veterinary controls, to perform or not to perform any act regarding their job duties,” reads the DNA statement from February 2015. The case is in progress at the Bucharest Court, with a new hearing being scheduled for March 7 this year. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com