Orban: I had no information according to which non-lawful procedures had been carried out at Unifarm

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Sunday evening that he had no information according to which non-lawful procedures had been carried out at Unifarm or that there had been suspicions of corruption, stressing that "the lame attempt of some people" to make a connection between the director of Unifarm and the Government on deeds of corruption "is a huge manipulation".

Ludovic Orban stated in an interview with private broadcaster Realitatea Plus that he found the director of Unifarm, Adrian Ionel, in office and decided not to change him from the company's management because it was a complicated thing during the pandemic.

"Everyone is trying to create a connection between the Government and the director of Unifarm. So we found the director of Unifarm, Adrian Ionel, in office. His term expires on July 14. We did not make the decision to change him, because in full pandemic we would have changed the leadership of entities only if we had had sufficiently clear and precise information. It would have been complicated to change him from the position, because it is known that the procedure of changing a Board of Directors and a manager, under the current legislation, is quite complicated, ie you have to pay him all the income he would have obtained until the end of his term (...) Neither I nor other colleagues of mine had information about the fact that at Unifarm there were procedures that did not observe the law or that there were suspicions of corruption," said Orban.

The prime minister claims that if someone made a mistake at Unifarm, then he must be punished.

"If there have been acts of corruption and if the DNA [National Anticorruption Directorate] has these data on deeds of corruption, if someone has done wrong, they must be punished. The lame attempt of some to link Unifarm, the director of Unifarm and the Government regarding deeds of corruption is a huge manipulation," Orban said.

The prime minister also specified that Adrian Ionel was appointed director of the Unifarm company when Victor Ponta was the interim minister of Health.