IMPARȚIALITATE·INTEGRITATE·EFICIENȚĂ
March, 13th, 2015
No. 494/VIII/3
Press Release
In addition to the press release no. 1194 and 1210 from the 13th and 20th of August 2014, regarding alleged offences assimilated to those of corruption involving the energy companies Turceni and Rovinari, the Office for Information and Public Relations is authorized to state as follows:
According to the legal and constitutional provisions, the Chief Prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate - Mrs. Laura Codruța Kövesi has 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 the Senate to draw up the request for the approval of the pretrial detention of the Senator ȘOVA DAN-COMAN, who was charged with three offences of complicity to abuse of office.
The request of the anticorruption prosecutors takes into consideration the fact that currently, there are data and indicia according to which there is a reasonable suspicion contouring the following state of facts:
The results of the criminal investigation activities have shown that during 2007-2009, the suspect Șova Dan-Coman signed several contracts and addenda concluded between CER and CET on the one side, and the Law Firm “Șova and Associates” on the other hand.
Moreover, it is shown that the suspect Șova Dan-Coman in his capacity as “coordinating lawyer” (an expression specifically mentioned in all the contracts), participated in several discussions regarding the object of the documents in question, he went to the headquarters of CER and CET and of other institutions effectively contributing to the signing of these contracts and addenda and additionally carrying out legal counseling activity based on these contracts and addenda.
On February 20th 2015, the suspect’s chosen lawyer submitted to the file of the case a number of 11 minutes drawn up during 2005-2009, by the General Assembly of the Law Firm “Șova and Associates”, which were unstamped, but illegibly signed by the suspect Șova Dan-Coman and by 2 other people. Furthermore, during February 2015 searches and hearings were conducted.
Regarding these documents, there is a reasonable suspicion that they are false, meaning that they are backdated, they present an inexistent state of facts on the respective dates and their content is designed to meet the current interest of the suspect Șova Dan-Coman, considering the media scandal regarding the legal counseling contracts signed with the energy companies Rovinari and Turceni.
In fact, the evidence gathered in this case revealed that during December 2005 - January 2009, approximately 20-30 decisions were adopted, decisions which had other points on the agenda than those recorded on the 11 minutes.
The 11 forged documents show that the suspect Șova Dan-Coman carried out activities of an extremely serious nature, his criminal activity aiming clearly at obstructing the investigation which jeopardizes the public interest objectives of the criminal investigation and implicitly, achieving criminal justice in general.
The forgery of the 11 minutes by the suspect Șova Dan-Coman represents a criminal activity in itself, the suspect thus trying to induce and accredit the idea that he was not involved in concluding the three presented contracts.
Moreover, it was shown that during 2010, following the order of the suspect Șova Dan-Coman all the hard-disks of the computers belonging to the law firm were destroyed, the purpose being to compromise all the documents and mails between the law firm and the management of the two energy companies.
The request for approving the pretrial detention was drawn up taking into consideration that all the requirements provided by the Criminal Procedure Code had been met.
The prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Directorate who have been conducting the investigation of this case attached their report to the request, as well as a number of 6 volumes containing copies of the criminal investigation file.
It should be mentioned that the start of the criminal investigation and the start of the criminal action are stages of the criminal proceedings regulated by the Criminal Procedure Code, activities which cannot, under any circumstances, infringe the principle of presumption of innocence.
THE INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE