IMPARȚIALITATE·INTEGRITATE·EFICIENȚĂ
May, 3rd, 2019
No. 404/VIII/3
Press release
The prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Directorate – the Section for offences assimilated to those of corruption ordered the sending to trial of the following defendants:
SANDU GABRIEL, acting as the minister of Communication and Information Society at the time the acts were committed, for committing the following offences:
- complicity la abuse of office, if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other,
- influence peddling,
FECIORU MARIUS-CONSTANTIN, acting as state secretary within the Ministry of Communication and Information Society de at the time the acts were committed, for committing the following offences:
- taking bribe,
- influence peddling (2 acts),
NEAGOE DUMITRU-DANIEL, acting as the general director of the National Company Poșta Română (CNPR SA) at the time the acts were committed and SIMON VICTOR, acting as director of the operational directorate within CNPR SA and, later, as a member of the tender evaluation committee at the time the acts were committed, each of them for perpetrating the following offences:
- abuse of office, if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other,
- taking bribe (2 acts),
STĂNESCU (former Janho) DIANA-LUCIANA, acting as director of IT&C branch within CNPR SA at the time the acts were committed and, later, as a member of the tender evaluation committee and ȘTEFAN CĂTĂLIN-MARIAN, acting as the head of the procurement investments department within CNPR SA and, later, as a member of the tender evaluation committee at the time the acts were committed, each for committing the following offences:
- abuse of office, if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other,
- taking bribe,
IVANOV PAUL, for committing the following offence: influence peddling,
DINU BOGDAN-FLORIN, for committing the following offences:
- complicity to influence peddling,
- money laundering, through repeated acts,
JANHO KHALIL ABDEL NOUR and ORZAC ION, administrator of SC Norima Tech SRL, each for committing two offences of complicity to taking bribe,
SC INDUSTRIAL SOFTWARE SRL for committing the following offences:
- complicity la taking bribe,
- complicity la influence peddling (2 acts),
- money laundering.
SC NORIMA TECH SRL for committing two offences of taking bribe,
SC SMANET SYSTEMS SRL for committing the offence of complicity la influence peddling.
In the drawn up indictment, the prosecutors described the following state of facts:
During 2010, because of the influence peddled by the two dignitaries, Sandu Gabriel and Fecioru Marius-Constantin, the defendants Neagoe Dumitru-Daniel, Simon Victor, Ștefan Cătălin-Marian and Stănescu (former Janho) Diana-Luciana, acting in the above-mentioned capacities, violated their office duties as provided by the law. They acted as such in the context of the CN Poșta Română (CNPR) SA purchasing at an overestimated price (a detail knows by them) the project "Meter Net", consisting in postage machines and an application processing and reporting of processed correspondence data.
The four defendants benefited from the support of the defendant Sandu Gabriel, who, as Minister of Communications and Information Society, took the necessary steps to appoint them to the respective positions, with the very purpose to conclude the above-mentioned contract.
Specifically, in August 2010, the defendants Diana Luciana Janho, Cătălin Marian Ștefan, Victor Simon, as members of the evaluation commission, by disregarding the legal provisions, selected as the winner of the tender submitted an "approved" company, being aware of the fraudulent increase of the awarding value. Subsequently, between the respective company as supplier and CN Poșta Română SA as beneficiary, a contract was concluded in unfavourable conditions. The execution of this contract lead to a damage for the national company with the amount of 4,959,149.78 euro.
The report of the procurement procedure was approved by the director Neagoe Dumitru-Daniel in the above-mentioned conditions.
Subsequently, after the conclusion of the public procurement contract, the administrator of the beneficiary company paid the amounts of money previously claimed by the defendants in exchange of this favour, through companies controlled by the latter, using fictitious commercial contracts, as follows:
- between October 2010 and February 2011, the defendant Dumitru Daniel Neagoe received the amount of 270,254 lei, through several bank transfers, in the accounts of a company that he controlled through a close friend.
- between October 2010 and February 2011, the defendants Ștefan Cătălin-Marian and Stănescu (former Janho) Diana-Luciana received, with the help of the defendant Janho Khall Abdel Nour, the total amount of 263,273 lei (respectively 131,639 lei for each of the two defendants ) by payments made to the accounts of a company managed by an intermediary of the defendant Stănescu (former Janho) Diana-Luciana,
- between October 2010 and February 2011, the defendant Victor Simon received, through two companies managed by the defendant Ion Orzac (one of them being SC Norima Tech SRL) the claimed amount, in a total amount of 307,018 lei.
- between September 2010 and March 2011, the defendant Gabriel Sandu received the total amount of 11,380,297 lei, through companies controlled by the defendant Dinu Florin Bogdan.
Subsequently, the latter created, by using the bank accounts of some companies controlled by his close friends, without being based on real commercial operations, 7 money flows through which transfer operations were carried out for the amounts of 1,600,000 euro, 3,826.030 lei and 636,000 lei, to the real beneficiary, in order to conceal their origin, knowing that these amounts were proceeds of crime.
- between September 2010 and May 2011, the defendant Marius Constantin Fecioru received the claimed amount of 3,164,009 lei through several bank transfers, in the accounts of the company SC Industrial Software SRL (controlled by his middleman, Domșa Cristian Ioan).
During 2007, a joint venture agreement was concluded between CN Poșta Română SA and a trade company concerning the delivery of the “hybrid mail” service, a service that, during 2009, was considered unprofitable by the company's officials, who even proposed the termination of the contract. In this context, the administrator of the respective company agreed to conclude several fraudulent agreements with the decision-makers within CN Poșta Română SA, in order to maintain the hybrid mail project and execute it in good conditions.
In January 2011, the defendant Marius Constantin Fecioru, acting as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Communications and Information Society, claimed from the representatives of the respective company several sums of money for the political party he was a member of. Thus, he promised to intercede with the management of CN Poșta Româna SA, in order to further support the hybrid postal service and convince them to pay faster the invoices related to the joint venture agreement.
Thus, between May 2011 and May 2012, the defendant Marius Constantin Fecioru received, through the defendant SC Industrial Software SRL Sibiu, administered by Cristian Ioan Domșa, and based on forged contracts, the total amount of 1,047,749 lei.
In the same context, between June 2011 and May 2012, the defendant Dumitru Daniel Neagoe, as general manager of CN Poșta Română SA, received through two companies managed by Petre Iura, based on forged contracts, the total amount of 1,364.001 lei.
During 2010, in the context of the Ministry of Communications and Information Society's implementation of the tendering procedures for awarding the "e-Academy" project for public servants, the defendant Marius Constantin Fecioru requested, directly, but also through Domșa Cristian Ioan, as one of the representatives of an association of companies entitled to win the tender, to buy an useless software, worth 150,000 euro, from SC Industrial Software SRL (managed by Domșa Cristian Ioan).
In addition, for the same reason (to further support the hybrid mail project) in the autumn of 2010, the defendant Victor Simon, as operational director of CN Posta Română and member of the joint association committee, claimed several sums of money for himself and the union, that he received between January 2011 and May 2012 and which amounted to 1,310,099 lei.
This transaction was imposed on the businessperson in exchange of the defendant Marius Constantin Fecioru not interfering with the carrying out of the public procurement procedure and the awarding of the respective association as the winner of the tender.
The above claims were communicated through Domșa Cristian Ioan, who, by using SC Industrial Software SRL, facilitated the receipt, in August 2011, by the defendant Marius Constantin Fecioru, of the amount of 393,780.60 lei (amount at which came after the reduction of the initial claims), paid as the price of the mentioned software.
In the same context and for the same reason, the defendant Paul Ivanov claimed the total amount of 180,000 euro from the same businessman, in exchange of interceding with the then Minister of Communications and received, between June and August 2011, through the defendant SC Smanet Systems SRL, the amount of 900,240 lei.
In the case CN Poșta Română SA lodged a civil case for the amount of 23.052.608 lei (4.959.149,78 euro for BNR exchange rate of 1 EURO = 4,6485 lei) to which the legal interest related to this amount is added.
The ensuring measure of seizing was ordered against all the movable and immovable goods belonging to the defendants Gabriel Sandu, Victor Șimon, Cătălin Marian Ștefan, Diana Luciana Stănescu, Marius Constantin Fecioru, Dumitru Daniel Neagoe, Paul Ivanov. The seizing of the amounts of money existing or to be transferred by third parties, for any reason, in the bank accounts held by the defendants and the amounts of money owed to the defendants, for any reason, by third parties was also ordered.
The file was sent for trial to the High Court of Cassation and Justice with a proposal to maintain the ensuring measure ordered in the case.
In the case, in the presence of their lawyers, the defendants IURA PETRU and DOMȘA CRISTIAN IOAN expressly stated that they acknowledge the perpetration of the acts charged against them, accept the legal framework for which the criminal action was initiated and agree with the manner and amount of penalties applied, such as and the form of their execution, respectively:
- the punishment of 3 years imprisonment with suspension of the execution, to a probation period of 2 years and it denies the defendants the following rights for a period of 3 years, since the conviction decision remains final: to be elected in public authorities or in any other public offices and to occupy a position involving the exercise of state authority,
- the punishment of 3 years imprisonment with suspension of the execution, to a probation period of 6 years and it denies the defendants the following rights for a period of 2 years, since the conviction decision remains final: to be elected in public authorities or in any other public offices and to occupy a position involving the exercise of state authority,
for committing the following offences: complicity la taking bribe, complicity la influence peddling (2 acts) and money laundering.
The court admitted the plea guilt agreement concluded with IURA PETRU, and the one concluded with DOMȘA CRISTIAN IOAN is pending at the Bucharest Court of Appeal.
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 that cannot, under any circumstances, infringe the principle of presumption of innocence.
Previously, eight other cases were sent to trial for offences that caused damage to the Romanian Post National Company (see press releases no. 251/VIII/3 of 13 October 2009, no. 687/VIII/3 of 15 December 2010, no. 1133/VIII/3 din 9 December 2013, no. 1112/VIII/3 of 18 June 2015, no. 1814/VIII/3 of 19 November 2015, no. 1332/VIII/3 of 1st of November 2016 and no. 1488/VIII/3 of 13 December 2016, no. 206/VIII/3 of 3 March 2017). So far, in three of the seven cases, the courts ruled decisions of final conviction.
THE INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE