IMPARȚIALITATE·INTEGRITATE·EFICIENȚĂ
October, 20th, 2014
No. 1478/VIII/3
The Prosecutors within the National Anticorruption Directorate - the Section for Combating Corruption have ordered the start of the criminal investigation against the following person:
VIOREL HREBENCIUC, a deputy within the Romanian Parliament, vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, leader of the parliamentary group of a party within the Chamber of Deputies and a member of the al National Executive Committee of that party, charged for the following offences:
- Instigation to the offence of using, in any way, directly or indirectly, information that are not aimed for publicity or allowing the access of unauthorized people to this information;
- traffic of influence,
- use of influence with the purpose to receive undue benefits,
- buying of influence
The criminal investigation ordinance drawn up by the prosecutors indicated that there are data and clues leading to the reasonable suspicion according to which:
The suspect Hrebenciuc Viorel, Vice-president of the Chamber of Deputees, took steps to obtain information regarding the criminal investigation in progress within the National Anticorruption Directorate related to him, promising in exchange to intercede with different public servants, that he has influence or pretend to have influence upon, to perform their office duties by obtaining different undue benefits for the people that help him with such information.
Thus, before the 13th of August 2014, Hrebenciuc Viorel requested a person, former head of a protection structure, to obtain data regarding the issuing of technical surveillance warrants that lead to the interception of communication, the duration of such warrants, if the possibility to extend the measures of technical surveillance exists, as well as the institution that requested the issuing of such warrants,, respectively the National Anticorruption Directorate or the Romanian Intelligence Service.
Previously, on the 13th of August 2014, the respective person has indicated to Hrebenciuc Viorel that he has possibility to find out this information by means of an employee working for the National Anticorruption Directorate.
The requested person told Hrebenciuc Viorel that he requested the employee to obtain such information, and he communicated that Hrebenciuc Viorel was and is intercept based on a technical surveillance warrant, issued as result of a request of the National Anticorruption Directorate.
Also, the requested person ensured Hrebenciuc Viorel that, by means of a D.N.A. employee, can continue to obtain information regarding the evolution of files he is investigated for, as well as other interesting files. For this purpose, Hrebenciuc Viorel proposed him to intensify the contacts for transmitting this data that are not aimed for publicity.
In exchange for his services, the requested person asked Hrebenciuc Viorel to support him in employing her daughter, working as an architect. To do this, Hrebenciuc Viorel promised him that, by means of his son, he will intercede with public servants to employ her in a public institution.
Also in exchange for the information provided by the DNA employee, through the requested information and as requested by him, Hrebenciuc Viorel promised to intercede with various influential people in order to determine to maintain a certain person in his present position, a public servant within the National Guaranteeing Fund.
Within the same context, Hrebenciuc Viorel promised the same person to intercede with a public servant within the National Office of the Trade Register, in order to help the person to register with the Registry of Trade the rights upon a trade company.
During the meeting on the 13th of August 2014, the same person requested Hrebenciuc Viorel to intercede with public servants in order to determine them to dismiss the Vice-president of the National Authority for Consumer Protection (because he had a business dispute with the respective person), a request accepted by Hrebenciuc Viorel.
On the 17th of October, Hrebenciuc, leader of a parliamentary group of a party within the Chamber of Deputies, a member of the party's National Executive Committee, respectively a Vice Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, interceded with a member of the same political party, in order to determine him to initiate a legislative proposal on amnesty and pardon of punishments.
Thus, during a meeting, the two discussed in full detail about the accusations Viorel Hrebenciuc is charged with, with regards to the restoration of property rights regarding some forests areas, about the conditions of criminalization and the risk of being sentenced (file publicized through press releases no. 1474/VIII/3 from the 17th of October and no. 1436, 1450 and 1454 from the 15th and 16th of October 2014).
To prevent the execution of any punishment imposed on a representative member of the party (which was sentenced to imprisonment indefinitely in the first instance for bribery) and to avoid a possible conviction of Viorel Hrebenciuc to be enforced, Viorel Hrebenciuc asked his party colleague to ensure him that a law for amnesty and pardons will be adopted, a request that his party colleague accepted.
In this context, his party colleague accepted Hrebenciuc’s promise that he would help him get the party president position, a party of which the two belong, in the detriment of the other two possible candidates, and to convince the Minister of Justice to initiate a project of law referring to the abating of art. 13 of Law no. 78/2000. Since Hrebenciuc is accused in two criminal files for perpetrating the offences provided by art. 13 of Law no. 78/2000 (see press release no. 1246/VIII/3 from the 4th of September 2014 and press release no. 1450/VIII/3 from the 15th of October 2014), the project would have been directly related to him, preventing his criminal investigation.
Since the abating of Art. 13 of Law no. 78/2000 was a controversial step, the two concluded that it cannot be done by a legislative proposal of a parliamentary, but by a law project initiated by the Ministry of Justice.
Within this context, the party colleague of Hrebenciuc promised that, in exchange for his help to become the president of the party, he will intercede with the Minister of Justice to initiate such a project, since he himself cannot become the Minister of Justice because of the criminal file in which he acts as a suspect.
In exchange, Viorel Hrebenciuc promised his party colleague that will convince more members of the party, that were are his circle of influence, to support him.
Other people are also investigated in this case.
NOTE:
Since the suspicion of Viorel Hrebenciuc committing new crimes came up, in addition to the request submitted on the 17th of October 2014 regarding the Justice Minister’s request to the President of the Chamber of Deputies to agree with the pretrial arrest of the deputies ADAM IOAN and HREBENCIUC VIOREL (see press release no. 1474 from the 17th of October 2014), the Chief Prosecutor of DNA sent to the General Prosecutor of Romania the ordinance to perform further prosecution against deputy Viorel Hrebenciuc issued on the 20th of October 2014 in this new criminal file.
The transmission of the new document is justified by that, upon the drafting of the approval of pretrial detention of the defendant Hrebenciuc, the new circumstances were not known by the DNA prosecutors, and this is considered critical for the settlement if the claim submitted on the 17th of October 2014 by the Chamber of Deputies.
It should be mentioned that this stage of the criminal case represents, according to the Criminal Procedure Code, the completion of the criminal investigation and the referral of the indictment to the court, for trial, a situation which cannot, under any circumstances, infringe the principle of presumption of innocence.
THE INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE