Serious cases of abuse have been uncovered in old people’s homes in Romania, a scandal that shocked the country and toppled the social protection minister on Thursday.
According to the first elements of the investigation by the public prosecutor’s office responsible for fighting organized crime (Diicot), two groups are suspected of “exploiting vulnerable people by subjecting them to degrading and inhuman treatment”.
Hundreds of residents of private facilities around Bucharest were beaten and deprived of food or medical care, prosecutors said, speaking of conditions akin to torture.
As part of the investigation, around thirty locations were searched last week and four suspects arrested and eleven others placed under house arrest.
They are accused of embezzling tens of thousands of euros a month in funds that the state allocates to care for the elderly.
“There is no doubt that protecting the elderly and vulnerable has become a cynical business that aims for profit at all costs, even if it means inflicting terrible suffering on residents,” the Socialist Prime Minister denounced Marcel Ciolacu during of the Council of Ministers on Thursday.
“I had a conversation with Minister Marius Budai who informed me of his decision to resign,” he added.
The scandal was first exposed by a Romanian NGO in late 2022, prompting a spate of scathing media articles. But the government was slow to react, and the minister initially refused to resign.
In the face of public uproar, controls were finally launched in more than a thousand facilities for minors, the elderly and the disabled. As of this writing, 13 procedures have been completed, 43 stayed and nine investigations opened, the report sent by the authorities said.
President Klaus Iohannis reacted this week to “a national disgrace,” as the media calls these “atrocities,” as the media calls them, and lashed out at “everyone who has closed their eyes.”