Sorina Pintea was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison with execution. The decision is not final

Sorina Pintea, former Minister of Health, was sentenced on Friday, April 26, to 3 years and 6 months in prison in the case in which she was accused of taking bribes in a continuous form, according to the decision of the Bucharest Court published on the justice portal. The sentence is not final and can be appealed.

“Based on art. 396 para. (2) C.proc.pen., with the retention of art. 36 para. (1) Penal Code, convicts the defendant PS, to 3 years and 6 months in prison with deprivation of liberty, for committing the crime of bribery in continuous form (2 material documents), prev. of art. 289 para. (1) Penal Code, with the retention of art. 6 of Law no. 78/2000 and with the application of art. 35 para. (1) C. pen. Pursuant to art. 67 para. (2) C. pen. prohibits the defendant, as a complementary punishment, from exercising the rights to be elected in public authorities or in any other public positions, to occupy a position that involves the exercise of state authority and to exercise the function of manager in a public hospital, prev . of art. 66 para. (1) lit. a), b) and g) Penal Code, for a period of 3 years”, decided the Bucharest Court.

The magistrates also ordered the special confiscation measure of 10,000 euros, the amount of the bribe for which she is accused, and the maintenance of the secured seizure of several assets owned by the former minister.

Sorina Pintea’s lawyers have 10 days to file an appeal against the decision of the Bucharest Court.

Accused of taking bribes while running the hospital in Baia Mare

Sorina Pintea was sent to court, in April 2020, by DNA prosecutors, in the file in which she is accused of having received bribes of 10,000 euros and 120,000 lei during the period in which she was manager of the Emergency Hospital in Baia Mare.

DNA prosecutors sued Sorina Pintea for bribery, in continuous form (two material documents).

The DNA shows in the indictment that, as manager of the Emergency County Hospital “Dr. Constantin Opriș” from Baia Mare, Sorina Pintea allegedly received bribes of 10,000 euros and 120,000 lei.

According to the prosecutors, between November 2019 and February 28, 2020, Sorina Pintea claimed and received, through an intermediary, from the representatives of a commercial company, in two installments, the sums of 10,000 euros (on December 20, 2019) and 120,000 lei (on February 28, 2020), which he would not have deserved.

The money represented a percentage of 7% of the value of a public procurement contract whose object was “the design and execution of the fitting-out works of the operating room-cardiovascular and thoracic surgery room and adjacent spaces in the County Emergency Hospital «Dr. Constantin Opriș» Baia Mare”, concluded in 2019 by the hospital unit with the commercial company.

Pintea would have received the respective money in the premises of the medical unit that he managed, and on February 28, 2020, after receiving the amount of 120,000 lei, in his office within the hospital, a flagrant raid was organized, DNA also says. The prosecutors instituted a security seizure on two lands belonging to the former minister.

In this case, Sorina Pintea was in preventive detention from February 29 to March 6, 2020, when she was released, being placed under judicial control.

The lawyers cited, among other things, the poor health of the former minister. Sorina Pintea suffers, according to her public statements before being arrested, from dermatomyositis, a serious and rare autoimmune disease, for which she is treated with cortisone and immunoglobulins. She asked several times to stay in the hospital, under guard, after being pre-arrested.