The mayor of the capital, Nicușor Dan, posted an announcement on his Facebook page on Monday, July 25, that he has filed a complaint with the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) regarding a series of irregularities that were supposedly found at the Authority for the Supervision and Protection of Animals (ASPA).

These were found during an inspection that the city hall undertook earlier this year, and led to the resignation of the former director of ASPA,  Andrei Mina Drăghici, who Nicușor Dan accused of “managing the institution's budget as if it were his own pocket”.

"The most glaring issue relates to the purchase of veterinary ambulances, and there are serious suspicions about illegalities in the purchase," says the mayor. "It is basically a mockery of public money, no less because even today these ambulances are still not authorized to operate according to the stated purpose of the purchase.

Such things are intolerable, and I will not tolerate them, either at ASPA or at other institutions subordinated to City Hall."

Last month, Digi24 reported that the Court of Auditors and the Control Corps had found the following inconsistencies:

EUR 164,000 material damages resulting from the purchase of 24 containers that are unusable from the point of view of sanitary and veterinary regulations;

EUR 108,553 spent for the purchase and installation of dog cages at the ASPA shelter in Mihăilești, without any documents proving the transaction, and for the construction of which not only the materials supplied by the contractor but also materials from old cages were used, although the full value of the materials was paid;

EUR 29,982 staff costs arising from the unjustified employment of persons from private commercial companies;

EUR 20,941 unjustified expenditure for the Stop Abandonment event;

EUR 164,038 spent on the purchase of two veterinary ambulances without obtaining operating authorizations from the College of Veterinary Surgeons.

maia@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Yarlb3 | Dreamstime.com)