IMPARȚIALITATE·INTEGRITATE·EFICIENȚĂ
December, 09th, 2015
No. 1934/VIII/3
Press Release
The prosecutors within the National Anticorruption Directorate – the Section for Combating Offences Assimilated to those of Corruption ordered the indictment
under judicial control against the defendants:
MAZĂRE RADU ȘTEFAN, Mayor of Constanța Municipality, at the time the offences were committed, charged for the following offences:
- taking bribe (3 offences),
- abuse of office, if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other
- conflict of interests through repeated acts (12 material acts),
STRUTINSKY SORIN GABRIEL, a businessman, charged for three offences of complicity to taking bribe,
And without taking them into pretrial detention against the defendants:
MARTIN EDUARD STELIAN, an associate of S.C. POLARIS M HOLDING S.R.L, acting as a deputy within the Romanian Parliament, charged for the following offences:
- complicity to abuse of office, if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other,
- giving bribe.
S.C. POLARIS M HOLDING S.R.L., charged for the offences of:
- complicity to abuse of office, if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other
- giving bribe.
STAN GABRIEL MARIUS, vice-mayor of Municipality Constanța and TOLEA TUDORIȚA, HARPALETE DORU AURELIAN, PAVEL ALINA, MUTALÂP GHIULNIHAL and OPREA SORINA LAURA, public official within Constanța City Hall, at the time the offences were committed, charged for the following offences: abuse of office, if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other.
The indictment drafted by the anticorruption prosecutors provided the following state of facts:
1. During 2006-2009, the defendant Mazăre Radu Ștefan, with the help of the defendant Strutinsky Sorin Gabriel, claimed and received around 2 million euro from the representatives of two trade companies and received 1,000,000 Euro and 2,472,303,8 Lei, in order to facilitate the issuing of land use planning documents necessary for the development of real estate projects (malls), that these companies were planning to implement in Constanța.
The amounts of money were transferred in the form of fictitious advertising contracts closed with the representatives of the respective company with a company controlled by the defendant Mazăre Radu Ștefan both directly, as well as by means of the defendant Strutinsky Sorin Gabriel.
2. During 2008-2014, the defendant Mazăre Radu Ștefan, with the help of the defendant Strutinsky Sorin Gabriel, received over 7 million euro from S.C. POLARIS M HOLDING S.R.L., having the defendant Martin Eduard Stelian as the real partner and administrator, in exchange for guaranteeing the winning of a tender organized by Constanța City Hall for delegating the management of city sanitation service.
At the same time, S.C. POLARIS M HOLDING S.R.L and the public institution managed by the defendant Mazăre Radu Ștefan signed a contract for delegating the management of city sanitation service for a period of 25 years, for an estimated total cost of 1,194,056.850 Ron – around 335 million euro.
In the same case, the bribe was received in an identical manner, through fictitious advertising contracts signed between S.C. POLARIS M HOLDING S.R.L. and the same firm controlled by the two defendants Mazăre Radu Ștefan and Strutinsky Sorin Gabriel. The total amount paid based on these contracts amounted to 33, 987, 771, 57 Ron, according to the calculations of the designated expert.
The signing of this contract caused to the City Hall of Constanța a damage amounting to 200,213,248, 91 Ron, the value of the VAT amounting to 36, 811,616,60 Ron. This amount represented an undue benefit for the company beneficiary of the contract.
The main person responsible for breaking the legal provisions and creating this damage was the Mayor Mazăre Radu Ștefan. The defendants Stan Gabriel Marius, Tolea Tudorița, Harpalete Doru Aurelian, Mutalâp Ghiulnihal, Pavel Alina, Oprea Sorina Laura, employees of the City Hall also participated in the perpetration of the offence by breaking the legal provisions and allowed the signing of the contract for an over-assessed price.
The analysis of the procurement process that preceded the signing of this contract has resulted in a series of violations of applicable law, attributable to the defendant Mazare Radu Stefan, as following:
- by imposing physical condition that tenderers should submit minimal equipment in any location on the territory of Municipality of Constanta, in the period of the proceedings, while the plant and equipment to be currently stationed throughout that period, under penalty of disqualification of tender bidders.
- by the method of estimating the value of the contract,
- by choosing how to delegate public sanitation of Municipality of Constanta through delegated administration,
- by lacking the minimum number of tenders, that up to February 2008 required a minimum of two tenders and in February 2008 a number of minimum 3 participants was set.
- by the public sanitation tariffs.
As a result of these actions, a damage amounting to 112,557,288.88 Lei, about 26 million euro was caused, a sum which also constitutes an undue benefit obtained by the company receiving the contract.
During November 2006 – 2013, the defendant Mazăre Radu Ștefan, acting as the Mayor of Constanța Municipality, participated to the closing of 12 contracts between the City Hall and the company controlled by him and the other defendant, in the total value of over 6 million Lei.
During November 2008 – 2012, the defendant Mazăre Radu Ștefan, acting as the Mayor of Constanța Municipality, signed 13 contracts, frame agreements and subsequent contracts between Constanta City Hall and a trade company, which was associated with the defendant Strutinsky Sorin Gabriel, for the total amount of over 23 million Lei.
All these facts were made possible in the circumstances in which the defendant Mazăre Radu Ștefan benefited of undue benefits from this company that promoted his image and his elections-related interests.
These contracts targeted the procurement of artistic services performed on various occasions, organizing artistic performances, the guarding of public and private property belonging to Municipality Constanta, civil protection service of Constanta City Hall, in the period among the 15th of February 2009 to the 15th of February 2012, etc.
Up to the present moment, the City Hall of the Municipality of Constanța indicated if they intend to lodge a civil application in this case.
In order to recover the prejudice, insurance measures were taken against the immovable and movable goods belonging to the defendants.
The file was sent to the High Court of Cassation and Justice for trial, with the proposal to maintain the preventive and insurance measures ordered in this case.
In this case, the prosecutors benefited of the specialized support of the Romanian Intelligence Service.
It should be mentioned that this stage of the criminal proceedings 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 resumption of innocence.
THE INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE