In the vicinity of Bucharest, people in need of help lived literally locked in makeshift homes. In inhumane conditions. Journalists discovered that scandal. An investigation is underway.
Revelations about the terrible conditions that prevailed in orphanages during the Ceausescu regime in communist Romania, caused outrage around the world 33 years ago. At least a fifth of the approximately 100.000 detained minors died due to abuse, poor hygiene and non-existent medical care. Many children then died because they were victims of negligence, indifference or even cynicism. Most of those who survived those homes grew up with severe physical or mental disabilities. There are no official statistics on the times before 1989. The communist regime pushed the truth under the carpet, because it would destroy the image of a "socialist worker's paradise".
People who worked for the so-called childcare system at the time were haunted by guilt. They were mostly not ready to testify about what was happening and to answer the question of how those images that shocked the world and which for years were the darkest label associated with Romania - images of malnourished minors, exposed to the cold, images of children who were unable to articulate words, simply because no one took care of their basic needs at an early stage of development - were possible.
And also because they were under the constant influence of tranquilizers, with which they were literally "pumped" so that they would not disturb the staff who were "taking care" of them. Children marked with shocking marks of physical violence stared blankly at the cameras, on their rusty beds, with yellowed, worn mattresses, behind the bars to which they were often tied, so as not to hit the walls with their heads.
Similar images can be seen again in the Romanian media in recent days. This time it's about elderly people, housed in improvised nursing homes, including people with mental disorders.
The race for profit
About half a year ago, investigative journalists discovered a business model through which those who were involved in the network of exploiting the plight of the elderly and sick were getting rich. That model, exposed by the journalists of the Romanian online portals Centrul de Investigatii Media and Buletin de Bucuresti, at first glance seems quite simple: a private company receives large sums of public money to take care of the elderly and people who need care. But the residents of those homes do not profit from that money, it ends up in the pockets of those to whom those homes belong. For a long time, there was no public reaction to those reports, until the State Prosecutor's Office confirmed those suspicions last week.
According to the official wording describing the suspicions against the owners of the homes, one can get the impression that it was a kind of extermination camp: insufficient care is mentioned which resulted in the death of the residents, their exploitation through forced labor, abuse, use of violence, lack of necessary medicines, malnutrition that resulted in the death of some people from hunger. People from the neighborhood have already given statements to state institutions. They testified that the victims stood naked and dirty by the fence of the home in the middle of winter, and begged them to give them money or food. A man from the neighborhood said that people living in the basement of a building dug a tunnel to escape from that hell.
From the files of the State Prosecutor's Office, which is in charge of prosecuting organized crime (DIICOT), it also follows that the pensions of the tenants of the home were seized, that is, that the ownership of their real estate was transferred to the owners of the homes. More than a hundred people were rescued from three homes, they were transferred to health institutions.
Political protection?
The situation in these homes is by no means unique to Romania, says Ovidiu Vanghele, one of the journalists who opened the latest series of revelations with his colleague Bianca Alba. Even ten years ago, he discovered another center for the care of people with mental disorders that was operating illegally, Vanghele told DW: "The care of these people is quite complicated, the state allocates a lot of money for it." But that money, the journalist notes, does not reach those for whom it is intended.
The mechanisms through which the social assistance system in Romania is regulated are actually quite healthy - there is mention of decentralization, state care and care in the community, and not somewhere in the backwaters, as was practiced before. But the rules were being broken, which eventually led to a "mindless privatization boom," says the investigative journalist.
This is how numerous companies focused on making a profit, companies that only offered social services on paper, were created, he adds. Most of that money never reached the residents of the homes, but ended up with the owners of those institutions, says Vanghele.
The persons against whom the State Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation are directly connected to Romanian politicians from the ruling (nominally) social democratic party PSD. That network, according to journalists, was supposed to "save" the owners of the homes from inspections or investigations. Relatives and former employees of the Romanian Minister of Family Care, Gabriela Firea, are involved in the scandal, it is claimed. Firea is the first deputy president of the PSD and a former mayor of Bucharest. In addition, she is the wife of Florin Pandele, the long-time mayor of Voluntari, the Bucharest suburb where the alleged homes were located.
The head of the supervisory service for "social" institutions in Voluntari was the sister of the minister for family care. As she says, she didn't know anything about what happened in those homes. Just like Pandele.
The influence of a few political actors has resulted in a kind of paralysis of institutions, claims journalist Ovidiu Vanghele. As he says, they had to conclude that something was wrong.
"Judging by the documents we analyzed, there were dozens of inspections, after which some fines were formally determined. The owners of the homes justified themselves with various papers, there were fictitious contracts for medical examinations or contracts with food suppliers. When it becomes known in Romania that the head of an institution is a person trusted by the mayor, then the control bodies do not bother that person. A kind of self-censorship is created. These are 'our people' and we don't bother them," emphasizes Vanghele.
"National Disgrace"
At the time when the first journalistic revelations were published, the Romanian Prime Minister and head of the PSD, Marcel Colaku, was the President of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Romania. He claims that he found out about this whole scandal only after the State Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation. When asked by DW, the competent Romanian institutions for media monitoring confirmed that this topic was present in all daily reports received by the competent state institutions, i.e. the most important political actors in the country, from the first revelations.
In the meantime, Čolak ordered the dismissal of several heads of institutions operating in the social protection system - due to negligence in the performance of their duties. The responsible minister and party colleague from the PSD, Minister of Labor Marius Budai and the already mentioned Minister for Family Care Gabrijela Firea, continue to enjoy his full confidence.
The two ministers claim that they knew nothing about the objections to the work of those "homes", and say that the campaign of the left-liberal opposition is actually hiding behind those revelations. "It is ridiculous to claim that they knew nothing. I proved with the help of documents and facts that they were informed about everything," says Vanghele.
On the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said about the affair: "Those 'houses of horror', as they are called, are a national shame." He demands that all participants be punished: "I hope that those who are able to take political measures will have the courage to do so," said Johannis.
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