IMPARȚIALITATE·INTEGRITATE·EFICIENȚĂ
December, 13th, 2019
No. 952/VIII/3
Press release
Update (November 12, 2020):
By its final closing no. 324 from November 11, 2020, Bucharest Court of Appeal admitted the proposal of the anticorruption prosecutors and ruled the confiscation of the amount of EUR 100,000 and 1,300,000, USD from the bank accounts opened by the offshore company involved in the perpetration of the offence of bribe giving.
FINAL
Update (August 12, 2020):
In the case made public by the press release 952/VIII/3 of December 13, 2019, the Information and Public Relations Office is authorized to communicate the following:
On May 26, 2020, the prosecutors within the National Anticorruption Directorate – the Section for combatting offences assimilated to corruption offences sent to the Bucharest Tribunal the report with the proposal for the special confiscation of the amounts of EUR 100,000 and USD 1,300,000, frozen in the accounts of an offshore company involved in the offence of bribe giving.
The prosecutors ordered earlier in the indictment the ensuring measures on the bank accounts with the view to confiscating the amounts of EUR 100,000 and USD 1,300,000.
The money would represent the rest left in the bank accounts of the companies controlled by two individuals (witnesses) from the fee sent by the foreign IT Company, to be paid to Romanian civil servants, in exchange for leasing IT licenses by the Romanian state.
The special confiscation of the proceeds of corruption crimes was proposed taking into account the legal provisions regarding the existence of a cause of impunity, respectively the denunciation of the acts by two persons prior to the notification of the criminal investigation bodies, the money being given before formulating the denunciation. The prosecutors ordered the closing of the case for these two individuals investigated for bribe giving.
In the case made public through the press release 500/VIII/3 from June 18, 2019, the Information and Public Relations Office is authorized to communicate the following:
The prosecutors within the National Anticorruption Directorate – the Section for combatting offences assimilated to corruption offences sent to trial, with the preservation of freedom, a defendant, administrator of several commercial companies, at the time the offence was committed, charged with the offence of complicity to taking of bribe.
The indictment drawn up by the prosecutors states the following facts:
The defendant allegedly helped a senior official to request and receive material benefits, between April 2007 and November 25, 2008, from representatives of a foreign IT company, in connection with the adoption of government decisions approving the conclusion of three additional documents to a commercial contract implemented by the company, having as object the lease, by the Romanian state, of some IT licenses.
The aid would have consisted both in mediating the agreement between the Romanian dignitary and the representatives of the foreign company regarding the payment of a fee of 10% of the value of the additional documents, as well as in facilitating the transfer of the material benefit to the dignitary's assets. Based on that agreement, the defendant would have received USD 2,581,519 through an offshore company, corresponding to 10% of the value of the first two additional signed documents. The fee corresponding to the third additional act was no longer paid because a new government had been installed, of which the dignitary was no longer a member.
From the amount he would have received as described above, the defendant would have remitted USD 800,000 to the dignitary, by partially paying the debt that the dignitary would have owed to a company that had provided him with political advice during 2007 - 2008. The rest of it would have remained in the ownership of the defendant and a person close to him, being partially frozen by the Austrian judicial authorities.
The prosecutors ordered the severance of the case with the view to further carrying out the investigations regarding the defendant Marian Marius-Dorin, chief of the chancellery of the prime minister, at the time the acts were committed, charged with the offence of complicity to bribe taking, as the reply to the international mutual legal assistance requests concerning him has not arrived.
The prosecutors ordered also the severance of the case regarding the other participants in the offence of bribe taking, as well as regarding other possible offenses by which the difference was paid up to the amount due by the dignitary to the consulting firm.
The prosecutors ordered the closing of the case in connection with two individuals investigated for bribe giving, who denounced the act prior to the notification of the criminal investigation bodies.
Foreign natural and legal persons participating in the act of bribery are subject to a criminal case handled by the Austrian judicial authorities, a circumstance in which the provisions of article 10 paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code prevents the initiation of criminal proceedings against such persons.
The prosecutors requested in the indictment the confiscation of the amount of EUR 830,000 from the defendant, as well as the amount of EUR 590,000 from the person who received part of the fee. For this purpose, the prosecutors ordered the seizure of five properties located in Bucharest valued at EUR 782,500, as well as of a bank account opened with a bank in Austria.
Moreover, the prosecutors ordered ensuring measures on bank accounts in order to confiscate the amounts of EUR 100,000 and USD 1,300,000, respectively the amount of EUR 2,600,000 from two offshore companies involved in the offence of bribery.
In order to establish the factual situation and to identify the seized goods, the DNA prosecutors cooperated with the judicial authorities of Austria, Switzerland and Israel.
The case was sent to trial at the Bucharest Tribunal, with the proposal to maintain the ensuring measures ordered in the case.
It should be mentioned that this stage of the criminal proceedings represents, according to the Criminal Proceeding Code, the completion of the criminal investigation and the sending of the indictment to the court for trial, a situation which cannot infringe the principle of presumption of innocence.
THE INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE