Abuse: “Horror Asylum” Causes Corruption in Romania

According to the first elements of the investigation conducted by the Romanian Prosecutor’s Office responsible for the fight against organized crime (DIGOT), two groups are suspected of “exploiting vulnerable people by subjecting them to degrading and inhumane treatment”. Hundreds of residents of private institutions around Bucharest were beaten, left without food or medical treatment, according to lawyers who spoke of conditions close to torture.

As part of the investigations, around thirty locations were raided last week and four suspects were arrested, and eleven others were placed under house arrest. They are accused of embezzling tens of thousands of euros each month in government funds for the care of the elderly.

“There is no doubt that the activity of protecting the elderly and the vulnerable has become a cynical business aimed at profiting at all costs, even if it brutally tortures the residents”, condemned the social democratic prime minister. Marcel Ciolacu during the ministerial meeting on Thursday. “I had a discussion with Minister Marius Budai and he informed me of his decision to resign,” he added.

The scandal was initially exposed by a Romanian NGO in late 2022, followed by scathing articles in the media. But the government was slow to respond and the minister initially refused to resign. In the face of public uproar, checks for minors, the elderly and the disabled were finally introduced in more than a thousand structures.

Of this, 13 have been closed, 43 have been suspended and nine investigations have been opened, according to a statement issued by the authorities. These “horror asylums”, which the media are calling “a national shame”, responded this week to President Klaus Iohannis, slamming “all those who turned a blind eye”.