Former national football team coach Victor Piturca left, on Tuesday, the Central Detention Facility of the Capital Police after the expiration of the 24-hour detention order issued by the anti-corruption prosecutors in the case in which he is accused of buying influence.
“I have nothing to do with this business,” stated Victor Piturca, upon his release from the detention centre.
The prosecutors of the National Anti-corruption Directorate did not ask the court for his pre-trial arrest. However, judicial sources told AGERPRES that he was placed under judicial control.
The former selector of the national football team was detained, on Monday, by the prosecutors of the National Anti-corruption Directorate in a file regarding the purchase of medical products during the pandemic.
Anti-graft prosecutors hear son of Victor Piturca
Alexandru Piturca, the son of a former coach of the Romanian national football team Victor Piturca on Tuesday went to the National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) to be interviewed by prosecutors.
Also on Tuesday, Victor Piturca was released from custody and brought to DNA to be interviewed in the same case.
According to a DNA press release issued on Monday, the anti-graft prosecutors ordered the criminal investigation and the 24-hour detention, starting on Monday, for Gabriel Tutu for abuse of office with particularly serious consequences, for deeds where the public servant obtained undue benefits for self or others, repeated influence peddling and forgery.
According to judicial sources, former coach of the national football team Victor Piturca was also detained and prosecuted in the same case, for buying influence.
The anti-corruption prosecutors maintain that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, between March 19, 2020 and September 16, 2021, Romarm general manager Gabriel Tutu, acting in violation of the legal provisions, concluded two public procurement contracts with an association of companies that also included one controlled by Piturca; the highly disadvantageous contracts for Romarm provided for the purchase of seven non-compliant machines for the production of protective masks.
“The aforementioned actions caused National Company Romarm SA a loss of 8,647,584 RON, representing the value of the mentioned machines, the value of the raw material and subsequently the value of related parts and services (outside the contract),” the investigators argue.
In a similar context, the prosecutors maintain that between March 19, 2020 and April 10, 2020, Gabriel Tutu asked executives of the companies involved in the said purchases to allow a friend of his to provide for delivery non-compliant protective masks to the National Defence Ministry although he actually did not provide any real commercial activities ancillary to the contract for the delivery of protection products and to perform payments to the latter (40 percent of the profit share) under the guise of a consultancy contract.
“In exchange for these ‘services’, suspect Gabriel Tutu induced the belief that he has influence over Defence Ministry officials and that he will determine them to directly award the procurement contracts without public procedures, and also take over the products without raising any objections and foot the relevant invoices. In this context, suspect Gabriel Tutu is said to have received 50,000 RON through a go-between,” the anti-graft prosecutors mention.
DNA added that in the same case criminal proceedings are being carried out also against other persons as well.
Compiled from Agerpres
