UNTIL a month ago Dan Condrea was, to all appearances, a successful Romanian businessman. His company, Hexi Pharma, made a healthy income supplying disinfectant to Romanian hospitals. That was before a team of journalists revealed that Hexi Pharma had been diluting its products, possibly causing patients to die from antibiotic-resistant infections. On May 22nd Mr Condrea drove his car into a tree. Witnesses said he was going over 60mph, and police said there were no signs of an attempt to brake. It took over a week to confirm that the badly damaged body was his.

The public reaction since the scandal broke in late April has been furious. The health minister was forced to resign on May 9th after he tried to play down the seriousness of the situation. The health ministry has withdrawn all Hexi Pharma products from hospitals.

Journalists began looking into hospital supplies after another scandal, a fire in Bucharest last October at a nightclub that violated safety regulations. The fire left 27 dead at the scene; a further 37 died later, and doctors said many had succumbed to infections picked up in hospital. Reporters at Gazeta Sporturilor, a sports newspaper, found that disinfectant supplied by Hexi Pharma had been diluted, in some cases to just one-tenth of the concentration on the label.

“People here didn’t realise what a killing machine many Romanian hospitals are,” says Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, a Romanian corruption expert. Over the past nine years Hexi Pharma has had contracts to supply more than 350 hospitals across Romania, including two of Bucharest’s biggest emergency hospitals. The disinfectant it sold was often heavily marked up in price.

Hexi Pharma was indicted last month, and Mr Condrea had been due to be questioned by prosecutors the day after the crash. Many have asked how a small company managed to win so many public contracts. A report by the same group of journalists accuses hospital directors of taking a 30% cut of contracts with Hexi Pharma, and suggested that this practice is widespread in the Romanian health-care sector.

Romania ranks near the bottom in Europe on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, yet recently the country has been trying to clean up its act. Last year Romania’s National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) prosecuted more than 1,250 people, including a former prime minister, five ministers and 16 members of parliament. The DNA’s director, Laura Codruta Kovesi, says the health-care sector is a priority target. For many in Romania, however, the Hexi Pharma scandal is proof that change is not happening fast enough.