The European Public Prosecutor’s Office, office in Cluj, is conducting 12 searches as part of an investigation against officials of the Lower Danube River Administration in Galati and the Romanian Naval Authority.
An alleged fraud related to the purchase of two tugboats – powerful boats used to tow larger boats and ships – for the Lower Danube is targeted, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office announced in a press release.
Three searches took place on Wednesday morning in three public institutions – one in Galati County and two in Constanța County. Seven other searches were carried out at the homes of civil servants working for those institutions, and two took place at private companies.
According to the evidence gathered in this investigation so far, the public officials of AFDJ Galati, as its representatives, obtained funding from the EU under the MARE Infrastructure Operational Program (POIM) for the purchase of two multifunctional tugboats. This was the result of a public procurement contract launched in September 2019, totaling 35,144,000 lei (approximately 7 million euros).
It is alleged that civil servants submitted inaccurate documents to finance the project. Although the boats were intended exclusively for river navigation, the suspects drew up the tender specifications based on the technical characteristics and more restrictive construction requirements specific to seagoing boats. As a result, the type of vessels that fit the tender specification criteria was very limited, which prevented other economic operators from participating in the tender process and ultimately favored only one applicant.
Following the completion of the contract with the supplier company, the two tugs were delivered in July 2021 with a higher draft than originally provided for in the tender specifications and purchase contract. This made them exclusively adapted for the maritime Danube, where the water depth allows navigation with a greater draft – so that the two craft were unusable for river navigation, as they would not be able to pass through the reservoirs in the Danube sector.
The ongoing home searches, intended to collect evidence, mobilize dozens of police officers from: the Galati Organized Crime Brigade, the Anti-corruption County Service within the DGA, the Galati County Police Inspectorate-SAS and the Galati County Gendarme Inspectorate.
Tags: European Public Prosecutors Office investigating million euro fraud involving tugboats Romania
