The Foundation for the Defense of the Citizen Against State Abuses (FACIAS) has filed a criminal complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office against the management of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) for abuse of office and negligence in service, in the context in which this institution managed the RCA insurance market, recently hit by the bankruptcy of Euroins.
The criminal complaint details how the ASF management, aware of the difficulties faced by Euroins, decided not to act in accordance with its duties under the law to "ensure the protection of policyholders and contribute to maintaining the stability of the insurance market". The result of this passivity inevitably led to the bankruptcy of the company, and the consequences for the insurance market and customers are incalculable at this point. Specifically, the ASF has known since 2020 that Euroins did not have the funds to cover the claims, but it has simply imposed fines without acting to prevent the disaster of bankruptcy. The consequences of this defective way of carrying out its duties have already been felt by Romanians in the case of the bankruptcy of City Insurance, which tripled the price of insurance to compensate for losses. Now, after the bankruptcy of Euroins, a new increase in RCA prices is expected, with the ASF indirectly responsible for this.
FACIAS believes that the criminal investigation bodies should investigate the activities of the ASF in connection with these bankruptcies in order to establish the reasons why the institution did not act in accordance with its legal powers. FACIAS also considers that it should be investigated whether, in the period 2020-2022, the Romanian executive may not have favoured the interests of Euroins Romania and, implicitly, influenced the decisions of the ASF regarding the decisions of this authority arising from the supervision and control activities carried out against this insurer.
This suspicion comes in the context that in June 2022 a meeting of Euroins staff was brokered by Bulgarian diplomats, "hosted" by the Romanian Government, attended by representatives of the ASF and members of the Prime Minister's Chancellery. Another aspect complained of in the criminal complaint, which deserves to be verified by the competent institutions, is the possible intention of the ASF management to accumulate income for the institution by imposing fines on Euroins, to the detriment of other measures that would have had the effect of preventing bankruptcy.
The full complaint filed with the Public Prosecutor's Office can be downloaded here.