Dorin Cocoş goes into the medical diagnosis business

• The husband of Elena Udrea took over "Centrul de Diagnostic Clinic Internaţional", a company which, with just one employee, had a turnover of 470,000 Euros in 2009, and a profit of 160,000 Euros

• His business partner - dr. Mioara Radu, former colleague of Elena Udrea on the General Board of the Mayoralty of Bucharest

Businessman Dorin Cocoş, spouse of the head of the Ministry of Development Elena Udrea, has entered the market for medical help services.

On January 21st, 2011, Cocoş acquired "Centrul de Diagnostic Clinic Internaţional (CDCI)" ("The International Center For Clinical Diagnosis") from former shareholders Anca Dinu and Mioara Radu, according to the Official Gazette.

The businessman currently holds 95% of the company, after acquiring the entire 70% stake of the former majority shareholder Anca Dinu which left the business, and 25% of the stake of Mioara Radu.

Mioara Radu - which was the manager of CDCI - , has remained the associate of Cocoş, with a small stake of just 5%.

The cooperation between businessman Dorin Cocoş and Mioara Radu has been going on for some time, and it also involves Elena Udrea, the businessman"s wife.

Mioara Radu (who is a doctor) and Elena Udrea were both members of the General Council of the Mayoralty of Bucharest, when current president Traian Băsescu was the general mayor.

At the time, Elena Udrea and Mioara Radu appeared on the lists of the DA Alliance, as members of the National Liberal Party (PNL), and they later moved to the PDL.

The new business of Dorin Cocoş looks to be extremely profitable.

At least according to the latest filings with the Ministry of Public Finance.

According to the balance sheet for 2009, CDCI had a net turnover of 1,990,587 lei (approximately 470,000 Euros) and a net profit of 691,306 lei (around 160,000 Euros). And all this with just one employee, according to the quoted source.

According to the balance sheet, the company also has 1,312,773 lei of debt (roughly 310,000 Euros). Dorin Cocoş could was unavailable for comments until the end of the edition.

• The glorious past of the business - diagnosing Romanian migrants who were going abroad to work on strawberry farms

Centrul de Diagnostic Clinic Internaţional (CDCI) was created in December 2004. At the time, the press reported that the company was involved in issuing medical certificates for Romanian citizens going to work in Spain, the so-called "strawberry men".

According to the quoted source, the National Forensic Institute (INML) "Mina Minovici" had signed a protocol with the Office for Worker Migration by which any Romanian looking to go to work in Spain would first need to be certified by the Institute.

The press reported that CDCI joined this enterprise, which was in fact a monopoly. Journalists reported that the INML later signed a cooperation protocol with CDCI. The center began issuing the certificates under the guidance of the INML, as the certificates had a shared seal that included both the name of the state institution and the name of the private company.

The deal proved extremely profitable, as the medical certificate cost about 3 million ROL (300 RON), and about 10,000 workers left to work abroad every year.