The Hospital Disinfectants Case still under Scrutiny

Hexi Pharma has withdrawn its request for insolvency filed for court approval

Leyla Cheamil, 18.05.2016, 14:09

Hexi Pharma, the company where the scandal concerning the use of diluted disinfectants started, has withdrawn its insolvency request, filed with the Bucharest Tribunal. Accused of diluting the sanitizers it provided to many hospitals across the country, the company is now being prosecuted by the General Prosecutor’s Office, for indirect participation in committing the crime of foiling disease prevention.

Last week, company representatives filed an insolvency request, saying the company could no longer deal with its many commercial and fiscal debts, because of the existing unfavorable economic situation. The company said it had 23 million lei in debts to the state budget and to various providers, and also unpaid invoices to two foreign companies, amounting to some 20 million Euros.

However, the company changed its mind and on Tuesday judges were informed that the company had withdrawn its insolvency request. The decision was made after the judges, who accepted a request filed by prosecutors, took several precautionary measures concerning Hexi Pharma. Under this decision, Hexi Pharma is not allowed to start any liquidation procedure, to enter a merger, to divide or reduce its equity, to produce and sell biocides. Also, the company is banned from alienating any of its assets, to make payments and transfers, except for those for salaries and utilities. As regards the investigation into the diluted disinfectants case, it is running fast, the Romanian General Prosecutor Augustin Lazar has said.

Augustin Lazar: “Within a reasonable timeframe we will be able to conduct an effective investigation and to clarify all this. In such a case, which the prosecutor knows is a serious one from the very date of notification, things run fast, as you can see yourselves. This is a matter of large-scale prosecution.”

In the investigation into the case concerning Hexi Pharma, prosecutors are even conducting physical and chemical tests on the incriminated products. Augustin Lazar has stated that the case benefits from all the necessary resources, including from the Public Ministry and the Judiciary Police, and the aim is to identify and hold the guilty ones accountable. In the meantime, the activity of the Hexi Pharma company has been also checked by the National Fiscal Administration Agency, which is not looking into the company’s ties with foreign companies.