{"id":33632,"date":"2022-02-02T12:55:59","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T10:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riseproject.ro\/investigations\/uncategorized\/nine-plane-with-masks\/"},"modified":"2023-06-18T12:31:49","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T10:31:49","slug":"nine-plane-with-masks","status":"publish","type":"investigations","link":"https:\/\/www.riseproject.ro\/en\/investigations\/uncategorized\/nine-plane-with-masks\/","title":{"rendered":"NINE PLANES WITH MASKS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The state’s arms manufacturer leased private jets to bring masks from Vietnam, while our military aircraft were used to transport masks for private companies at a very low price.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

However, the first leased planes were also military, but they belonged to the Ukrainian Army. Brought to the country a year ago, the masks still lie unused in a warehouse near Bucharest.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

Their transportation alone cost us $ 5.3 million.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

The transportation costs were paid by Societatea de Administrare a Participa\u021biilor \u00een Energie (SAPE). <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Those who decided the business are now proposing a breakdown solution: the Ministry of Energy should give up the money from SAPE ‘s profit, through a non-transparent compensation, and receive the masks as dividends.
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The compensation would be worth $ 30 million.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The scheme of the business and the correspondence between Hanoi and Bucharest show how, in the midst of a sanitary crisis, we wasted the money we could have used to build <\/b>a brand new hospital.<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

THE DECISION MAKERS<\/h2>\n

\"\"Virgil Popescu, former minister of Economy. <\/b>He approved the purchase of a record quantity of masks from Vietnam, last year. He changed, overnight, the object of activity of an energetic company, SAPE, in order to buy the masks, but then he mandated another subordinate company \u2013 Romarm – to purchase them and take care of their transport. Meanwhile, Virgil Popescu was appointed Minister of Energy and now proposes that the ministry receive unused masks as dividends.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gabriel \u021au\u021bu, head of Romarm. <\/b>A former SRI officer, \u021au\u021bu signed the contracts with the suppliers and the transporters. Used equipment for the production of masks at an armament factory near Targoviste were also brought from China with Ukrainian military planes. After the Vietnam deal, \u021au\u021bu was promoted to the supervisory board of the SAPE company, which had borne the costs of masks acquisition and transport.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE WAREHOUSE<\/b><\/h2>\n

A warehouse surrounded by barbed wire located on a field, almost two kilometres away from Otopeni airport, stores the protective masks that have cost us, so far, over 30 million dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the price paid by a state-owned company bought, in May 2020, for the purchase and transport of almost 96 million protection masks. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, a year later, 90 million masks are still stored in the warehouse in Otopeni, generating additional storage costs. The other 5,2 million masks were distributed to school inspectorates and used by students at last year’s national exams.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The masks are still in my warehouse due to bureaucracy”<\/span><\/i>, says Liviu Drago\u0219 R\u0103dulescu, the owner of Master Mind, the company that operates the warehouse in Otopeni. R\u0103dulescu refused to show them to us and also to tell how much he charges for storage: <\/span>“I have a confidentiality agreement and without the owners’ consent I can’t give you any further details””I have a confidentiality agreement and without the owners’ consent I can’t give you any further details”.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

However, he claims that he receives less than he usually charges for such services and that there is nothing wrong with the masks that remained in his warehouse: <\/span>\u201cThe authorities checked on me, even the police. I never had this many inspections in my life as I had in the last three months.\u201d<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

We found out the location of the warehouse when we were trying to find the answer to a simple question: why did the state buy a huge quantity of masks and never used them?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There were no measures taken, not even after <\/span>Hotnews<\/span><\/a> published, on January 22, 2021, the information that the masks lie unused, half a year after their purchase.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ludovic
Ludovic Orban. Sursa: Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Instead, a few days ago, on May 18, 2021, Ludovic Orban<\/span>, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, <\/span>criticized<\/span><\/a> the fact that another 11 million masks bought a year ago, when he was prime minister, are still unused, although the Ministry of Health bought them with the purpose of distributing them to disadvantaged people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the masks were purchased also during his term as prime minister, Ludovic Orban did not mention a thing about the eight times larger quantity of masks stored in Otopeni.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did we get here?<\/span><\/p>\n

The acquisition had a very slow pace. A month and a half passed since the company controlled by the Ministry of Economy decided to buy the masks until they arrived in the country. In the meantime, the market prices had fallen so the state-owned company could no longer cover its acquisition, operating and transportation costs. <\/span>The only winners in this deal were the companies in the supply chain.<\/span><\/p>\n

MASKS AS DIVIDENDS<\/b><\/h2>\n

Even these days, the Ministry of Energy is proposing a breakdown solution to get rid of the masks in the warehouse: masks instead of dividends.<\/p>\n

As a shareholder, the ministry has to receive from SAPE dividends of almost 331 million lei for 2020 and proposed that a part of the profit will be in the form of protective masks, according to documents obtained by RISE Project. The amount that the ministry wants to give up is a maximum of 142 million lei (almost $ 35 million).<\/p>\n

The compensation is mentioned only in a document that is accompanying the draft budget of SAPE for 2021, so that the details of the financial arrangement are not public. The draft budget has already been approved by Virgil Popescu, Minister of Energy, but has been blocked in the Ministry of Finance, which, according to our information, does not agree with the solution.<\/p>\n

The non-transparent compensation would relax the SAPE budget, which cannot neither sell the masks below the purchase cost nor donate them. Instead, the Ministry of Energy can distribute them as it wishes, even donate them, according to the consulted experts.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Virgil Popescu. Photo: Inquam \/ Octav Ganea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Virgil Popescu is the same person who approved the purchase of masks last year. At that time, he headed the Ministry of Economy, which controls SAPE. He did not answer our questions on the subject.<\/p>\n

The first masks were brought from Vietnam by Ukrainian military planes,<\/span>,<\/span><\/i> contracted by a Swiss company with secret shareholders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Transportation alone cost us over $ 5.3 million. <\/span>The correspondence from those days between Hanoi and Bucharest, obtained by RISE Project, shows how the officials wasted 42 days before the masks’ acquisition.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE CORRESPONDENCE<\/b><\/h2>\n

As early as February 26, 2020, Luiza G\u00eerleanu, the economic adviser at the Romanian Embassy in Hanoi (Socialist Republic of Vietnam), announced in Bucharest that she had found a manufacturer who could supply masks at a price of $ 0.3 (1.33 lei at that time).<\/span><\/p>\n

Stocks were empty in Hanoi as well, so delivery could only begin on March 16. The sanitary crisis had spread across the globe, and the states had begun a race against the clock to get protective equipment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"De
Luiza Garofi\u021ba G\u00eerleanu, a 52 year-old economist, has been on a mission in Hanoi since 2018. When we contacted her on the subject, she told us to send her the questions by email, but she never answered them. Instead, she informed her bosses that a reporter from RISE Project is interested in the mask business.
Luiza Garofi\u021ba G\u00eerleanu. Source:YouTube screenshot.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On March 31, Luiza G\u00eerleanu requested from Bucharest a list with medical materials and the quantities needed to fight the new coronavirus, as she had had a promising discussion with a director of the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the acquisitions were already made in a centralized way in Bucharest through two other state structures: the National Office for Centralized Procurement (ONAC), an institution under the Ministry of Finance, and, UNIFARM, a company owned by the Ministry of Health.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, the Ministry of Economy still decides to enter the mask trade on its own. It also has a competitive advantage: it coordinates the network of commercial advisors in our embassies. They are very close to the local market and can easily find out who sells and at the price. This was also the case of Luiza G\u00eerleanu, who announced to the Bucharest officials about an offer she received at the end of February.<\/span><\/p>\n

Things started to move fast on April 1, 2020, when a company controlled by the ministry decided to change its object of activity in order to trade masks. The company is called the Societatea de Administrare a Participa\u021biilor \u00een Energie (SAPE) and deals with monitoring the fulfilment of the obligations resulting from the privatization contracts concluded by Electrica S.A. SAPE requests the completion of the object of activity, and the Minister of Economy, Virgil Popescu, signs the approval order on the same day.<\/span><\/p>\n