A businessman was denounced to the NAC by an employee of the National Food Safety Agency (ANSA) after he allegedly tried to bribe him with 50 000 lei. According to the whistleblower, the money was offered to overlook some irregularities connected to the execution of a project regarding vaccination of foxes against rabies, carried out by the businessman’s company.

Thus, following the tender procedure, organized by the ANSA, the economic agent won the project, and purchased the rabies vaccine for the fox vaccination campaign – the procedure carried out in two stages, in spring and autumn. According to the provisions of the contract, after completing the vaccination, the ANSA employee had to draw up a report on the qualitative execution of the works and distribution of the entire quantity of the vaccine, while the economic agent had to get the money for his services.

However, when spraying the vaccine, over 20 000 doses would have missed the target and would have gotten into lakes and localities. Therefore, this amount of vaccine, worth over 20 000 euros, had to be excluded from the sum that the economic agent was supposed to receive. In order not to lose the money, the businessman would have offered the ANSA employee a 50 000 lei bribe to forge the final report and not to include the lost quantity of the vaccine.

Following the denunciation of the ANSA employee, a criminal investigation was started for active corruption.

The businessman was escorted to the NAC for questioning, and later was placed in the NAC detention center. If found guilty he risks imprisonment up to 6 years with a fine from 2000 to 4000 conventional units.

We remind that every person is presumed to be innocent until the final and irrevocable decision of the court is pronounced.

The Anticorruption Prosecution Office is conducting the criminal investigation.