Why Did The Dacian Farm Operate Without Fire Safety Clearance. The Firefighters Who Had To

Colonel Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru retired in 2020

The Bucharest Military Court will judge on the merits the request of the prosecutors to reopen the criminal investigation regarding Colonel Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru, on the date of the facts of the first deputy chief inspector of the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations “Șerban Cantacuzino” of Prahova county.

Meanwhile, the colonel retired in 2020, and since 2021 he owns the company Edelis Prest SRL, with a turnover of 660,000 lei, according to data from the ListaFirme.ro portal.

Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru appears as an expert authorized by the Ministry of Justice in the field of “pyrogenic processes and fires”. This means that, at the request of the court, they could carry out forensic technical expertise on fires.

Ping-pong between the courts with the DNA’s request to reopen the criminal investigation

Colonel Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru and one of his subordinates, Major Cristina Chelba, were the subject of a case of abuse of office and bribery since 2020, orchestrated and then closed by DNA prosecutors.

Following the fire that destroyed the Ferma Dacilor guesthouse in Tohani on December 26, 2023, as a result of which 8 people died, DNA asked the court to reopen the criminal investigation against Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru and his subordinate.

The trial came before the Prahova Court, which on January 23, 2024 decided that the file be declined to the Bucharest Military Court. The military court in the Capital decided, for its part, that it does not have the competence to judge, because Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru is no longer a soldier.

In this way, a conflict of jurisdiction arose between the two courts regarding the adjudication of the request to reopen the criminal prosecution filed by the DNA, which the High Court decided on April 23, in favor of the Bucharest Military Court.

How the stipend system worked

Libertatea consulted the reasoning of the Prahova Court of January 23, 2024, where the judge reviews exactly how Colonel Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru acted when he was “number 2” at the head of ISU Prahova.

From the cited document, it appears that between July 8-12, 2019, col. Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru and mr. Cristina Chelba carried out two checks in Tohani village, Prahova county: one at Cramele Halewood and another at Ferma Dacilor.

The two applied only two warnings and left Halewood Wineries with a crate of wine bottles, and from Ferma Dacilor with the promise that the following month, i.e. in August, the officers from ISU Prahova will have a protocol meal :

• “Thus, it was noted with reporting value that after the completion of the control on 07.09.2019, carried out at Cramele Halewood, str. Găgeni no. 92, around 2:00 p.m., Capt. (Chelba Cristina – no) would have parked his personal vehicle on Pompierilor str., and in the presence of col. (Dumitru Elisei Tiberiu – no), allegedly loaded a box of wine bottles, received from the representatives of the above-mentioned company, into the car used by him, brand (Nissan – no) Quasqai.
• On the other hand, in the circumstances shown, on 07.08.2019, under the conditions of the control having a formal nature carried out on 10.07.2019 at the objective of Ferma Dacilor in the town of Tohani, (Dinicu Cornel – no) a person who was claimed to have was administered, on the date of the facts, through the intervenors of the company in question, would have offered, as undue benefits, the counter value of the consumption for the previously mentioned protocol table”, the request for reopening the criminal investigation states.

In the case of the Dacian Farm, col. Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru and mr. Cristina Chelba found 6 irregularities, but sanctioned only one, and that one with a warning.

The Dacilor farm risks fines of up to 300,000 lei and the cessation of activity

If they had done their job according to the rules in force, the two firefighters would have had to sanction Cornel Dinicu for not providing them with the fire safety documentation, an act sanctioned with a fine from 5,001 to 10,000 lei.

According to the law, the owner of the Dacilor Farm had the obligation “to request and obtain the fire safety notices and authorizations provided for by law, and to ensure compliance with the conditions that were the basis for their issuance.” Because he did not do it, he risked another fine, from 20,000 to 50,000 lei.

As Dinicu did not even have a building permit for Ferma Dacilor, the prosecutors say that the firemen should have sanctioned him with a third fine, from 30,000 to 100,000 lei, as well as stopping the activity.

Instead, this is how the investigators claim that col. Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru and mr. Cristina Chelba:

• “Although in the contents of the control report no. 4468421 of 12.07.2019 it is mentioned that, of the 6 irregularities found, only one of them was remedied during the control, and for the other 5 irregularities found, the prevention inspectors required the controlled economic operator to communicate in writing to ISU Prahova, until dated 26.07.2019, the manner in which these deficiencies were remedied. (…)
• Moreover, as mentioned above, from the information available in the public space, it follows that a number of these irregularities have not been remedied even up to now, namely the lack of fire safety authorization and the lack of building authorization regarding the controlled unit , belonging to the company (Ferma Dacilor Production – no) SRL
• Thus, in the case, in relation to the recent events and the documents in the case file, there are indications that the passivity in the application of the legal norms incident to fire safety of the prevention inspectors within ISU Prahova on the occasion of both the control carried out in 2019 and regarding the follow-up of the way to remedy the deficiencies found by the economic operator, allowed the operation of the activity by the company in question, an aspect that generated an undue benefit to it, consisting of a profit of approximately 5,000,000 lei”, the prosecutors note.

He turned a blind eye to irregularities for a sink

Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru would have proceeded in a similar manner in the case of other controls, the cited document states.

During April 8-9, 2019, col. Dumitru would have caused a subordinate to “turn a blind eye” to the irregularities found during an inspection at SC Abzac Romania SRL, where the administrator was, at the time, the wife of the former first assistant at ISU Prahova, Delia Dumitru. Mrs. Dumitru’s company escaped with only a warning, although six irregularities had been identified on the fire safety line.

On May 17, 2019, col. Tiberiu Elisei Dumitru allegedly influenced another subordinate to apply lighter sanctions following an inspection at a furniture factory in the village of Posestii-Pămănteni, Prahova county, in exchange for a price reduction “on several ordered furniture items for equipping your own home, in a percentage of 20% (representing 10,723 lei), applied to the total value of the ordered products of 53,615 lei”. The furniture company only received a warning, although – like Ferma Dacilor – it had not applied for and did not have a fire safety permit.

On July 11, 2019, the first deputy head of ISU Prahova received a sink from a company in Ploiesti, which two of his subordinates had found with irregularities, including the lack of a fire safety permit.

Cornel Dinicu is in freedom waiting for the start of the trial

The owner of the Dacilor Farm, Cornel Dinicu, is being investigated at liberty under judicial control, after the Prahova Court and the Ploiești Court rejected, during April 2024, the request of the prosecutors to extend the measure of house arrest.

Cornel Dinicu is being investigated for the crime to be investigated for culpable destruction that resulted in a disaster, for which he risks a sentence of 5 to 12 years in prison.

On January 3, 2024, the Ploiești Court accepted the proposal of the prosecutors of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Prahova Court for the preventive arrest of Cornel Dinicu, following the fire that engulfed the Dacilor Farm on December 26, 2023.

Cornel Dinicu spent a month behind bars, then, on February 1, 2024, the Prahova Court placed him under house arrest. The same measure was taken against Elena Adelina Ilie and Adrian Vitomir Ristin, the persons interposed by Dinicu as administrators at the company Ferma Dacilor Production SRL.

On December 26, 2023, the day after Christmas, a violent fire broke out at the Ferma Dacilor guesthouse, in the early hours of the morning. Eight people died in the fire, including children and teenagers. One of the sons of Cornel Dinicu was among the victims who lost their lives.

The probable cause of the fire, which broke out at 5:45 a.m., was “the thermal effect of the electrical current,” according to investigators. In addition to the fact that Ferma Dacilor did not have a fire safety permit, the guesthouse was supplied with electricity from a water pump, located 650 meters from the complex.

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