UPDATE Former HealthMin Pintea sent to court over bribe taking

Romania's former Minister of Health Sorina Pintea has been sent to court by prosecutors of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) in a case in which she is accused of taking bribes, DNA reported on Thursday.

"Prosecutors with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate - the Department Combating Crimes Related to Corruption Offences ordered the prosecution, under judicial control, of defendant Sorina Pintea, at the time of the offence manager of the Dr. Constantin Opris Emergency County Hospital, Maramures County, for two counts of repeat bribe taking," DNA reported in a press statement released on Thursday.

Anti-corruption prosecutors note in their filings with the court that, between November 2019 and February 28, 2020, Pintea allegedly claimed and received, through an intermediary, from executives of a company the amounts of 10,000 euros (on December 20, 2019) and 120,000 lei (on February 28, 2020), as a 7-percent cut on a public procurement contract for the design and execution of works for the arrangement of a cardiovascular and thoracic surgery operating room and adjacent spaces at the Dr. Constantin Opris County Emergency Hospital of Baia Mare concluded in 2019.

According to investigators, Pintea allegedly received the money inside the medical facility she ran.

"On February 28, after receiving the amount of 120,000 lei, an activity that would have taken place in the defendant's office at the hospital, the crime was ascertained in a set-up," according to DNA.

In this case, a lien was placed on two plots of land belonging to the defendant.

The case was presented before the Bucharest Tribunal with a proposal to keep the lien in place.

DNA also said that prior to their court filings, the anti-corruption prosecutors concluded a plea agreement with a natural person, who has been charged with bang an accessory to the repeat bribe taking offence.