According to the court minutes, the Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected as unfounded the appeal filed by the Prosecutors Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice DIICOT against the ruling issued on July 2 by the Bucharest Court of Appeal. At the same time, the court admitted the appeals filed by the six defendants, partially overturned the ruling of the Bucharest Court of Appeal and, retrying the case, rejected the prosecutors proposal for preventive arrest.
The judges also removed the provision regarding the judicial review measure against the six defendants, maintaining only the provisions regarding legal expenses. The decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal is final. Former social worker Viorel Pașca is the subject of an investigation by DIICOT, together with members of his family, regarding suspicions of human trafficking and the exploitation of vulnerable people.
According to the information in the file, in 2020 a group consisting of Pașca, his wife and their three sons was formed, which would have coordinated the activity carried out under the name of the “Dumbrava DPG” Association (God in the Care). The organization was presented to the public as one with a humanitarian character, but prosecutors claim that it did not hold the necessary licenses to provide social or medical services. According to DIICOT, people with disabilities, the elderly or the sick were allegedly directed to buildings managed by the group in hospitals, medical units and general social assistance directorates in several counties, in the context in which state institutions did not have enough places in specialized centers.
Investigators claim that, once they arrived at these locations, the beneficiaries were deprived of their identity documents, mobile phones and bank cards, thus being isolated from relatives and from contact with the outside world. According to prosecutors, the intended purpose was to gain control over their income – pensions, disability or companion allowances – but also to attract donations through campaigns carried out on social networks. Following DIICOT searches, the authorities identified 409 people accommodated in 18 buildings located in the localities of Dumbrava, Tinca, Incești and Bicăcel, in Bihor county.
Prosecutors also indicate that, according to data collected in the investigation, since 2006, over 3,300 people have been housed in these locations, of whom approximately 1,020 died and were buried in the cemetery in the town of Dumbrava. Viorel Pașca and the other five people investigated in the case were under judicial control.