Romania’s tax agency ANAF puts infamous Hexi Pharma factory up for sale
Romanian tax agency ANAF has put up for sale the factory of infamous disinfectant-maker Hexi Pharma. The company was involved in a major scandal regarding diluted disinfectants delivered to hospitals years ago.
The controversial company, now in insolvency, has debts of RON 17.6 million to the Romanian state, and the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is among those seeking to recover money.
To pay for those debts, the tax authority is trying to sell a 2,600 square meter plot of land and a 1,700 square meter metal hall, both located in Mogoșoaia, with a starting auction price of RON 8 million (EUR 1.6 million), with VAT, according to Profit.ro.
The Hexi Pharma scandal erupted after Gazeta Sporturilor and journalist Cătălin Tolontan revealed, based on statements and documents provided by former company employees, that the disinfectants supplied by the company to hospitals had lower concentrations than those stated on the label.
The journalists also found that authorities had never tested the quality of the disinfectants used in public hospitals and that the only lab that was authorized to carry such tests was also controlled by Hexi Pharma’s owner, Dan Condrea. Following this scandal, the then-minister of health Patriciu Achimaș Cadariu resigned and Hexi Pharma was shut down.
Soon after the investigation, Dan Condrea smashed his car into a tree just north of Bucharest, in what prosecutors found to have been a suicide.
Some 280 Romanian hospitals filed civil complaints in the lawsuit against Hexi Pharma after the journalistic investigation. In March 2023, the judges of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, who handled the appeals in the Hexi Pharma case, found that the statute of limitations had expired for the offenses in the prosecution's file.
As a result, the judges ordered the termination of the criminal proceedings against Hexi Pharma Co SRL for fraud, continuous use of false documents, and improper participation in preventing disease control. The court also determined that the statute of limitations had expired for the charges against the individuals.
However, the court ruled that healthcare units must receive compensation from the company accused of selling diluted disinfectants. It also annulled the approvals that had allowed Hexi Pharma to place its products on the market and maintained the seizure on several assets belonging to the company and the two defendants.
The criminal fine imposed by the Bucharest Tribunal on Hexi Pharma, amounting to RON 2.6 million, was similarly upheld.
(Photo source: Peter Williams | Dreamstime.com)
