The Court of Appeal in Bucharest on Friday decided to stop the criminal proceedings against two executives of Hexi Pharma, Flora Dina and Mihai Levy, and canceled the prison sentences handed down in the first instance, Agerpres reports.

Both were sentenced in the first instance to 3 years of imprisonment each, the decision was substantive and not final.

The current decision to stop the trial was made after the judges of the Court of Appeal in the capital found that the facts in which the two directors of Hexi Pharma are accused have effectively lapsed, according to Agerpres.

• The Hexi Pharma case was closed and the alleged facts were dismissed, but the Romanian state remained to pay the experts’ fees: 90,000 lei

Charges on the merits in the Hexi Pharma case dismissed after statute of limitations

Flory Dinu, CEO of Hexi Pharma, was sentenced in January 2019 by the Bucharest Court (trial on the merits) to 3 years in prison with execution for committing the crimes of forging documents with a personal signature and illegal participation in the crime of hindering the fight against diseases, and the head of production of the enterprise Mihai Lev was sentenced to 3 years and 8 months of imprisonment with execution. The company was also ordered to pay a criminal fine of 2.6 million lei.

Those convictions were overturned on Friday by the Bucharest Court of Appeal on the grounds that the facts had lapsed. Magistrates applied, as in other recent important cases, the decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the statute of limitations.

Both directors are prohibited from holding the position of head of a commercial company, as well as from engaging in any activity in the company, the subject of which is the production and sale of biocides, for a period of 5 years.

Hexi Pharma CEO Dan Condrea committed suicide in May 2016 after learning that prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation into diluted disinfectants the company supplied to hundreds of hospitals.

Photo: Flory Dinou, director of Hexi Pharma / Source: Agerpres

The Bucharest Court of Appeal was supposed to issue a final decision in the Hexi Pharma case two years ago, but the process dragged on for nothing.

The final verdict in the Hexi Pharma case was due to be handed down by the Bucharest Court of Appeal two years ago, but the judges returned the case to November 2020.

Then the process was postponed until the conclusion of the examination, which did not add anything new to the case.

In court, Hexi Pharma was forced to pay damages of approximately 125 million lei, which is the cost of inappropriate biocidal drugs purchased by hundreds of hospitals in the country.

However, the Court of Appeal of Bucharest changed the amount of these compensations, reducing some amounts and canceling others altogether.

In order to compensate for damages, the court upheld the seizure of the company’s property, including an inner-city plot with an area of ​​2,072 square meters with an estimated value of 1,636,880 euros and a P+1E building/metal structure.

The Hexi Pharma trial and the prosecutor’s indictment

In March 2017, the General Prosecutor’s Office brought the Hexi Pharma company to court for committing 340 crimes of fraud (7 of them with particularly serious consequences), official forgery (61 material documents), as well as for illegal participation in the crime of obstructing the fight against diseases.

In the same file, the general director of Hexi Pharma, Flory Dinu, was prosecuted for the crime of forging documents under his personal signature (49 material documents) and illegal participation in the crime of disrupting the fight against diseases, as well as as the head of production of the company Mykhailo Lev for forging documents under his personal signature signature (33 material documents) and aiding and abetting illegal participation in the crime of disrupting the fight against diseases.

Prosecutors alleged that between June 1, 2010, and May 16, 2016, Hexi Pharma misled representatives of 340 health care facilities by “misrepresenting the qualities of its own products” regarding the concentration of active ingredients and biocidal efficacy, as well as by using fraudulent means consisting of labels and other documents certifying unrealistic elements of compliance, thus inducing them to enter into contracts for the purchase of biocidal products and causing them losses.

At the same time, from October 12, 2012 to March 9, 2016, Hexi Pharma used 61 documents (presentation letters of its own products, safety data sheets, and declarations of active substances) at the NCRECP to obtain permission to place documents containing false statements on the commodity market.

The prosecutor’s office also showed that in the period from June 1, 2010 to May 16, 2016, having placed on the market in Romania, in almost all large sanitary units of the country, some ineffective biocidal products from the point of view of bactericidal, fungicidal, sporicidal, mycobactericidal action. , Hexi Pharma intentionally contributed to non-compliance by specialized medical personnel with measures to prevent and combat hospital-acquired (infectious-contagious) diseases.

During this period, activities were coordinated by Flory Dinu, who ensured that these ineffective biocidal products were placed on the market in bactericidal, fungicidal, sporicidal, mycobactericidal aspects.

Flora Dina is also accused of forging 49 documents with her personal signature (presentation sheets in the case of Hexi Pharma products, safety data sheets and declarations of active substances) used by the company in the NCRECP between February 4, 2014 and March 9, 2016 , certifying with his signature some false circumstances, in order to obtain a permit to put products into circulation, documents containing false statements regarding the concentration of active substances and biocidal efficiency.

At the same time, from the evidence provided, it became known that in the period from July 14, 2012 to May 16, 2016, Mihai Leva, as a production manager, helped to place some ineffective biocidal drugs on the Romanian market in the country’s large sanitary facilities on the basis of bactericidal, fungicidal, sporicidal, and mycobactericidal properties .

Also, in the period from February 4, 2014 to March 9, 2016, Mihai Leva forged 33 documents under his personal signature, certifying with his signature some false facts (presentation letters in the case of Hexi Pharma products and safety data sheets), from which he made 16 safety data sheets, documents used by the company at the National Commission on Biocidal Products to obtain authorization to place products on the market that contain false claims about the concentration of active substances and biocidal effectiveness.

The investigation began after Gazeta Sporturilor journalists wrote in April 2016 that the Hexi Pharma company was diluting disinfectants distributed to more than 300 hospitals in the country.

• Hexi Pharma CEO Dan Condrea committed suicide in May 2016 by crashing his car into a tree.