DIICOT police and prosecutors are investigating 17 people who allegedly caused damage of over 7.26 million RON to a commercial company by embezzling significant quantities of fertilizers and pesticides.

„On May 15, police officers from the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (DCCO), together with prosecutors from the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), carried out 32 home searches in the municipality of Bucharest and the counties of Calarasi, Ialomita, Arges, Galati, Bacau and Cluj, in a case aimed at dismantling an organized criminal group, specialized in committing crimes of embezzlement in a continuous manner with particularly serious consequences, complicity in embezzlement, forgery of documents under private signature, material forgery of official documents and concealment,” informs the Romanian Police.

According to investigators, starting in August 2022, an organized criminal group was formed, which acted, until March 2023, in a coordinated manner, with the aim of embezzling significant quantities of fertilizers and pesticides from the assets of a commercial company.

One of the group members, as an employee of the company in question, would have drawn up fictitious orders using the identities of clients who had no knowledge of these operations.

Subsequently, the orders thus drawn up were confirmed by the financial and accounting department of the injured person.

„The investigations carried out in this case revealed that, after taking over the quantities of fertilizers and pesticides, the drivers of the means of transport were directed by the other members of the group to other agricultural companies, where the goods were unloaded and sold at prices approximately 50% below market value,” the cited source says.

In order to create an appearance of legality of the transactions, the administrators of the beneficiary companies would have proceeded, based on prior agreements with the members of the criminal group, to register invoices in the accounting records, in which they would have certified unreal data regarding the origin of the purchased goods.

The action was carried out together with the police officers of the Bucharest, Pitesti, Bacau, Galati, Cluj-Napoca organized crime brigades and the Calarasi and Ialomita organized crime fighting services.

The judicial activities were carried out with the support of the territorial structures of the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Gendarmerie.

AGERPRES