IMPARȚIALITATE·INTEGRITATE·EFICIENȚĂ
February, 16th, 2015
No. 288/VIII/3
According to the legal and constitutional provisions, the Chief Prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate – Mrs. Laura Codruța Kovesi sent the report of the case to the General Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office Attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice in order to notify:
1. the Chamber of Deputies, to draw up the request for conducting the criminal investigation against the Deputy UDREA ELENA GABRIELA, who has been charged with the offence of taking bribe, during the time when she was a Minister of Rural Development and Tourism (MDRT).
2. the Minister of Justice to request the President of the Chamber of Deputies the approval of the pretrial detention of the Deputy UDREA ELENA GABRIELA, for the above mentioned charges.
The current request is submitted in the case in which criminal investigative activities are carried out in connection with the alleged illegal awarding and use of the funds from the patrimony of the Minister of Rural Development and Tourism during 2010 – 2012.
It is worth mentioning that, in the case in question, the Chamber of Deputies has approved the criminal investigation and the pretrial detention for the offences of abuse of office; attempt to use false, inaccurate or incomplete documents or statements for the purpose of unduly obtaining funds from the budget of the European Union; using the influence for obtaining undue benefits; taking bribe.
Subsequently, new elements appeared in the case, elements which lead to the suspicion that other offences were committed, offences which were not known at the time the Chamber of Deputy was notified. Some of these deeds are part of the offence of taking bribe for which the approval of the Chamber of Deputies was obtained and they complete the objective side of the offence while the other deeds meet the constitutive elements of two new offences of taking bribe.
a) The offence of taking bribe in connection with the funds granted by MDRT in the contracts concluded with Termogaz Company S.A. cu UAT Cavnic and UAT Borsec
During 2010, Udrea Elena Gabriela received indirectly, several undue benefits for herself and for someone else, from the representatives of S.C. Termogaz Company S.A. In exchange, she had to approve the granting of funds on time, for the works contracts concluded by this company with several territorial administrative units within the program “Sky for Romania”.
On August 24th 2010 and December 20th 2010, S.C. Termogaz Company S.A. transferred the total sum of 695,367.06 lei to the defendant Lungu Ștefan, personal councilor of the minister, using several fictive public procurement contracts through which a company controlled by the middleman was interposed in the commercial relations between Termogaz Company and its usual suppliers. The mentioned amount represents 10% of the value of the payments made by the Ministry to UAT Cavnic and UAT Borsec for the works performed by S.C. Termogaz Company S.A.
Lungu Ștefan used some of the money thus obtained for his own interest, and following the request of the Minister Udrea Elena Gabriela he used the rest of the money to pay for publicity services and for the online activity monitoring having as beneficiaries the Minister in question and the party in which she was a member.
b) The offence of taking bribe in connection with the payments made by the National Company of Investments to S.C. Consmin S.A.
During 2010 – 2011, Udrea Elena Gabriela, together with Topoliceanu Ana-Maria, the director of the National Company of Investments (the latter being a suspect in the present case), received the approximate sum of 300,000 lei from the administrator of S.C. Consmin S.A. in exchange for making sure that the payment for the works performed by the above mentioned company based on the contracts concluded with the National Company of Investments was made on time.
Thus, after the National Company of Investments made the payments to S.C. Consmin S.A. for the performed works, the administrator of the company used to transfer 10% from the received amount to the company controlled by Lungu Ștefan, i.e. S.C. Last Time Studio S.R.L., based on some fictive consultancy contracts. This is how five payments were made, amounting to 335,486 lei.
In his turn, Lungu Ștefan used to give the received money to Breazu Liberiu Tudor, a personal friend of both Udrea Elena Gabriela, and Topoliceanu Ana Maria. The payments were made either in cash or through the company S.C. Ekaton Consulting S.R.L. managed by Breazu Liberiu Tudor, based on other fictive consultancy contracts. This is how four bank transfers were made, amounting to 209,762 lei and a payment in cash of approximately 90,000 lei.
Some of these amounts were handed over in cash to Topoliceanu Ana Maria, who, in her turn gave them to Udrea Elena Gabriela. The difference was used by Breazu Liberiu Tudor to pay different expenses of Udrea Elena or of Topoliceanu Ana Maria.
c) The offence of taking bribe in connection with the funds granted by MDRT in the contracts concluded by Termogaz Company S.A. and S.C. Kranz Eurocenter S.R.L. with UAT Lupeni and UAT Petroșani
During 2011, Udrea Elena Gabriela requested and received from the defendant Gardean Adrian, undue benefits for herself and for someone else, amounting to 10% of the payments made by the Ministry for the contracts concluded by S.C. Termogaz Company S.A. and S.C. Kranz Eurocenter S.R.L., in exchange for guaranteeing that the funds would be approved on time.
Thus, on February 7th 2011, Udrea Elena Gabriela requested Gardean Adrian to be a solid “sponsor” with the sums received from the ministry, informing him that he had to establish the details of these sponsorships with Nastasia Gheorghe, the General Secretary of the ministry. Subsequently, Udrea Elena Gabriela requested Nastasia Gheorghe to inform Gardean Adrian that the requested sum of money amounted to 10% of the payments that had been made and of the payments that would be made during 2011.
Following this request, in the summer of 2011, Gardean Adrian remitted 200,000 euros to Lungu Ștefan, who, in his turn gave the money to Nastasia Gheorghe, but the next day, Nastasia Gheorghe gave the sum back, mentioning that there was a risk for this deed to be denounced to the criminal investigation authorities.
On October 6th 2011, Gardean Adrian remitted 900,000 euros in cash to Nastasia Gheorghe, based on the money which had to be received by S.C. Termogaz Company S.A. and by S.C. Kranz Eurocenter S.R.L. from the funds of the Ministry of Rural Development and Tourism.
On this occasion, Nastasia Gheorghe informed Gardean Adrian, following the request of Udrea Elena Gabriela, that the sum which had been given did not cover the percentage asked by the minister, considering the total amount which would be paid to the two companies and, in order to cover this difference Gardean Adrian was requested to transfer 3,000,000 lei in the accounts of a company controlled by Obreja Rudel.
The sum of 900,000 euros was given by Nastasia Gheorghe to the minister Udrea Elena Gabriela and the difference of 3,000,000 lei was transferred by S.C. Termogaz Company S.A. in the account of S.C. Europlus Computers S.R.L. on December 28th 2011, based on a fictive publicity contract.
The deeds presented in section c) represent alternative ways to commit the same offence of taking bribe for which the Chamber of Deputies requested the conducting of the criminal investigation and approved the pretrial detention of the Deputy Udrea Elena Gabriela on February 9th 2015.
Taking into account that these deeds complete the objective side of the offence, a new request to conduct the criminal investigation and a new approval of the pretrial detention are necessary, according to the complete form of the charges brought against the Deputy.
The present request to start the criminal investigation is subject to article 305 paragraph 4 of the Criminal Procedure Code, consequently, the person for whom the notification was sent to the Chamber of Deputies in order to draw up the request for the start of the criminal investigation, benefits from the presumption of innocence.
THE INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE