The Court of Accounts completed the report on the public money received by employees of the Romanian Rowing Federation, as a result of the results of the previous two editions of the Olympic Games. The conclusion is that almost 2.5 million lei, approximately 480,000 euros, were paid without a legal basis. Rowing brought 5 of Romania’s 9 medals at the Paris 2024 competition
The Court of Accounts sent its inspectors to COSR (the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee), ANS and the Rowing Federations, respectively Kempo. The proposals for awards following the Olympic Games and related documents were verified. Today, December 9, golazo.ro published the conclusions of the Court of Accounts report.
According to the resolution in the report, “in the years 2021 and 2024, the staff within FR Canotaj did not have established attributions that would justify the contribution to achieving sporting performances, nor criteria that were the basis of the proposed awards in the total amount of 2,447,484 lei, the equivalent of 492,800 euros“.
After the 2021 Olympic Games, the representatives of the Rowing Federation were rewarded with 17,103,747 lei. From this total, “the amount of 831,432 lei (168,000 euros) was awarded to the staff, respectively: 443,430 lei (89,600 euros) to the president and 388,002 lei (74,400) euros to the chief accountant”. At that time, the president of the federation was Elisabeta Lipă, currently a PSD deputy, who benefited from the bonus without a legal basis.
Three years later, after the edition in Paris, the amount awarded to the staff of the Canoeing Federation was double, 1,616,052 lei, i.e. 324,800 euros.
The report states that that money went to employees such as “sports consultant/expert, sports complex director, accountant, clerk, janitor, worker, security guard, cook, waiter, fireman, etc.” With the exception of the chief accountant (who received 86,800 euros) and the consultant (100,000 euros), the individual premiums were between 200 and 10,000 euros.
The Court of Accounts demands “the restitution of the sums improperly granted to ANS. According to the law, the Court of Accounts must notify ANAF and the Prosecutor’s Office about the reported irregularities.
