Viorel Pasca, head of the 'Dumbrava - Dumnezeu Poarta de Grija' Association, said on Thursday that out of roughly 400 residents housed in the facilities of the charity, only about 100 had any income, and even those were 'small, modest amounts', insisting that maintenance costs were covered by donations from ordinary people.

'I consider that I did good. (...) Surely I also made unintentional mistakes (...). That I was naïve. (...) It's a pity you weren't shown the photos I took of how people came from the hospital to us - photos of how they arrived; the patients were ten times worse. But the time will come when I will show you the photos of patients coming from the hospital,' Pasca said upon leaving the Bucharest Tribunal, where the prosecutors' request for his pre-trial detention is being heard.

On the money allegedly taken from residents, he said: 'Out of 400 patients, I think just 100 had incomes, that is 25%, and those were anyway small. What money did I enrich myself with, or take from them? (...) I learned from official sources that the cost per patient was set at around 2,000 lei. Count 400 patients. (...) Food, electricity, care, everything. We used 700 diapers a day. Count how much 700 diapers cost per day. (...) The little money some patients had didn't even remotely cover expenses. I had no money from patients; I had money from donations, from simple people.'

He gave the example of his own father, who 'for 20 years donated 10% of his pension every month'.

Pasca also denied any link to acting Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan: 'I have never seen him in my life, never talked to him, not even from a distance.'

In the case involving the exploitation of vulnerable people in illegal nursing homes in Bihor County, the prosecutors of the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) detained six people - Pasca, his wife, their three sons, and Delia Mioara Pacala - and placed five others under judicial control. They are investigated for forming an organised criminal group, continuous human trafficking, and complicity.

Investigators executed on Tuesday 27 search warrants in Bihor. From a shared residence, they seized 217 bank cards, 19 social cards, 7 transport top-up vouchers, cash totalling approx. 246,750 lei, 15,000 US dollars, 7,880 euros, 4,920 Canadian dollars, 4,700 Swiss francs and 1,150, British pounds, all belonging to vulnerable victims housed in the group's facilities.

In another building, they found a room functioning as a 'pharmacy', stocked with large quantities of medicines, including controlled substances.

DIICOT estimates the damage at about 13 million lei.

According to prosecutors, since 2020, Pasca (55) and family members formed a structured criminal group, joined by seven others, to obtain financial benefits by exploiting highly vulnerable persons. Under the guise of humanitarian care, the group allegedly misled donors and families, capturing donations, sponsorships, pensions, disability benefits, social aid, fuel subsidies, funeral aid, and other entitlements.

Hundreds of people with severe psychiatric disabilities were allegedly recruited, taken in and housed in properties in Holod, Ceica, Tinca, and Lazareni, without legal capacity or professional qualifications required under Law 292/2011. The victims were allegedly kept in dependency and servitude, without adequate medical care, supervision, or proper administration of medication.

Investigators say some victims who died in the facilities were buried near a Greek-Catholic cemetery, with the group collecting the funeral aid.

After authorities stepped in, the victims were relocated to accredited care centres capable of providing proper protection, supervision, and recovery. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Mihai Stoica; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)