This is the case of Eva Balogh, the head pharmacist of the Municipal Hospital in Marghita, forced by a final sentence to return the money settled for services that, in fact, she never provided.
Eva Balogh was sent to court in December 2021, when the indictment of the Bihor Prosecutor’s Office recorded charges against her regarding computer fraud (425 material documents), forgery in documents under private signature (490 material documents) and eight crimes of forgery in statements .
The facts of which she was accused took place between 2015 and 2018, when, as a representative of an SRL with activities “related to human health”, she would have settled with CAS Bihor home medical care services which, in reality, did not were administered to the beneficiaries. Among them, the prosecutors listed “applying plaster, (…) measuring physiological parameters, temperature, breathing, pulse, (…) therapeutic maneuvers to avoid pulmonary complications”. That these care services were not provided were confirmed by both patients’ relatives and employees of Eva Balogh’s company.
Cars and jewelry on the illegally settled money
The magistrates explained that, under the pretext of providing free diapers for bedridden elderly people, the woman obtained their identity and medical documents: “She used them to prepare the files requesting medical care at home, which were later approved by the president of CAS Bihor, following the defendant’s fraudulent use of the patients’ health cards on the occasion of the electronic signature of the medical services for the settlement of some medical services not rendered.”
The investigators claimed that the illegally settled money from CAS Bihor was withdrawn from the company by Eva Balogh, who would have bought a car, jewelry or clothing.
“The expenses recorded in the accounting records (of the pharmacist’s company – editor’s note) did not go into the realization of the object of the company’s activity (paying employees, purchasing products for medical services, travel expenses, etc.)”, the prosecutors noted.
During the trial at the Marghita Court, the court changed the charge of computer fraud to deception and ordered the trial to be terminated, because the statute of limitations ran out in April 2023. Instead, the judge allowed CAS Bihor’s action and ordered Eva Balogh to pay 377,417 lei – the damage caused to the Single National Health Insurance Fund, to which penalties and increases were added.
On April 26, the Oradea Court of Appeal rejected the pharmacist’s appeal and upheld the sentence of the trial court.
Tags: pharmacist hospital Marghita obliged courts return CAS Bihor lei
