Radio România Internațional

Tag: National Anticorruption Directorate

  • Two major corruption cases make headlines in Romania

    Two major corruption cases make headlines in Romania

    Investigations into the Microsoft case, the most resounding corruption scandal in Romania in the last 25 years have entered a new phase. The case refers to the purchase of IT licenses for Romanian schools. According to prosecutors, a number of former ministers with several different governments unlawfully signed and extended contracts at prices increased artificially.



    The National Anti-Corruption Directorate started the prosecution of nine former officials, namely the senators Serban Mihailescu and Ecaterina Andronescu, the deputy Valerian Vreme, the European Parliament member Dan Nica as well as Daniel Funeriu, Alexandru Athanasiu, Mihai Tanasescu, Gabriel Sandu and Adriana Ticau. The former chief of Romania’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Catalin Harnagea, the former communication minister Gabriel Sandu, the former presidential advisor Dorin Marian and the former tennis player Dinu Pescariu are also suspected of involvement in the case.



    President Traian Basescu has recently said that more surprises and new suspects will surface in relation to the Microsoft scandal. President Basescu has dismissed rumours that the FBI provided documents in this case.



    Another major case making headlines these days has to do with the illegal return of forestland and involves judges, parliament members and businessmen. Damages to the Romsilva National Forestry Authority are estimated at over 300 million euros.



    Among the suspects are the Social Democrat MPs Ioan Adam, Viorel Hrebenciuc and Ilie Sarbu, as well as the illegitimate son of King Carol II of Romania, Prince Paul and his wife. Prosecutors say that in April 2012, at Ioan Adam’s request, judges with the Covasna Tribunal illegally ruled for the return of a large area of forest and farm land in the eastern county of Bacau, worth 300 million euros. Later, Ioan Adam and several other people, including Viorel Hrebenciuc, are believed to have set up a group with the purpose of making money through a speedy procurement of land title deeds, followed by a quick sale of the land.



    In another development, the Romanian Parliament is debating a draft law making it easier for deputies and senators to lose their immunity and preventing delays in investigations. Some of the new provisions of the bill include shorter trial dates, limitations to Parliament’s responsibilities as far as the assessment of evidence is concerned, and the introduction of open public vote in Parliament and the Parliament’s Legal Committee.

  • Major anti-corruption files

    Major anti-corruption files

    At full speed, the National Anti-corruption Directorate continues its investigation into the already resounding Microsoft case. Prosecutors can now start the prosecution of Liberal — Democrat MP Valerian Vreme, since on Monday the Chamber of Deputies complied with their request with 153 votes in favour and 110 votes against. A former Minister of Communications between 2010 and 2012, currently in the opposition, Vreme is suspected of abuse of office in the procurement of Microsoft licenses.



    According to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, during his term in office as minister, he allegedly concluded an agreement for the purchase of 179 thousand licenses for Romanian schools, which was actually 73 thousand more than the number of compatible PCs existing at the time. The contract caused the state over 5 million Euros worth of damage. Saying he is just a victim of ungrounded allegations, Vreme has dismissed all accusations and has said that all the documents he signed as minister were endorsed by the departments in charge of providing legal assistance, and were substantiated by all the necessary technical documents and licenses.



    He will now have to convince anti-corruption prosecutors he is innocent, just as another eight ministers will have to do, ministers who held offices between 2001 and 2012, both in left and right-wing governments. They are suspected of influence peddling, money laundering, abuse of office and bribe giving or taking. In a country where the minimum wage is less than 200 Euros, some of those ministers are said to have received commissions worth millions of Euros under a contract concluded between the Romanian Government and Fujitsu Siemens Computers, a company that presented itself as single distributor of Microsoft licenses and was actually favoured by the Romanian officials, the products sold by the company being over-evaluated and sold at higher prices.



    According to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, out of the 54 million dollars paid by the Government, 20 million dollars were commissions charged by those involved in the signing of that contract, including ministry officials. President Traian Basescu has already authorized the Directorate to start the prosecution of five of the nine ministers involved. The Romanian Senate is to make a decision regarding another two, and the European Parliament is expected to start a similar action against one of the former ministers who is currently an MP in Brussels.