IMPARȚIALITATE·INTEGRITATE·EFICIENȚĂ
October, 2nd, 2020
No. 648/VIII/3
Press release
In addition to the press release no. 368/VIII/3, from June 23rd 2020, the prosecutors within the National Anticorruption Directorate - the Section for Combating Corruption have sent to trial, under judicial control, the following defendants:
IONEL EUGEN ADRIAN, who was, at the time of the facts, the general director of the National Company Unifarm SA and who was charged with the following offences:
- taking bribe,
- abuse of office if the civil servant obtained for themselves or for someone else an undue benefit,
- complicity to traffic of influence,
- instigation to forgery,
- using the position for favouring some people,
RADU MARIA LIZICA DANIELA, who was, at the time of the facts, the head of the Commercial Service within the National Company Unifarm SA and who was charged with the following offences:
- abuse of office if the civil servant obtained for themselves or for someone else an undue benefit,
- forgery.
The prosecutors’ indictment shows the following state of facts:
On January 30th 2020, the World Health Organization declared the state of emergency for public health at international level due to infections with the new Coronavirus. Thus, the Romanian Government issued the Government Order no. 11/2020 on emergency medical stocks (the respective equipment included overalls and protection masks), as well as some measures related to the establishment of quarantine.
The National Company Unifarm SA was assigned, together with other public authorities, to purchases such protection equipment.
Thus, the defendant Ionel Eugen Adrian, in his above mentioned capacity, allegedly requested the amount of 760,000 euro from a middleman who was acting as a representative of a commercial company. In exchange, the National Company Unifarm SA, a state –owned company, was supposed to award a public procurement contract for the protection equipment against the infection with COVID 19 virus (250,000 overalls and 3 million surgical masks).
The contract was allegedly concluded with a private company, in the first half of March 2020, in violation of the provisions of the Law 98/2016 on public procurement, both in terms of how it was negotiated and of how it was awarded, without any procedure taking place.
It seems that the same document was also signed by the defendant Radu Maria - Lizica - Daniela, in her capacity as head of the Commercial Service within the National Company Unifarm SA. Subsequently, the defendant Ionel Eugen Adrian urged Radu Maria - Lizica – Daniela to falsely certify on the award documents related to the contract, that the negotiations had been carried out even with the legal representative of the respective company. In reality, the negotiation took place between the general director Ionel Eugen Adrian and the middleman, at a restaurant in Bucharest, where it was practically agreed on the terms of the contract and the price of the protection equipment.
In exchange for this “service”, the middleman requested the sum of 5,810,175 lei from the representatives of the company, for himself and for the civil servants working for the National Company Unifarm SA. This sum represented 18% of the total value of the contract.
The defendant Ionel Eugen Adrian was to receive 760,000 euro of the above mentioned amount as previously agreed.
Since the supplier company did not pay to the middleman any amount of the agreed 18%, the defendant Ionel Eugen Adrian, in his capacity as the general director of the National Company Unifarm S.A., decided to unilaterally terminate the contract.
However, previously, the respective company had allegedly delivered 1 million surgical masks (which failed to comply with the standards provided by the contract) and 25,920 overalls of the total protection equipment stipulated in the contract, for which the National Company Unifarm S.A. paid the sum of 2,380,000 lei (representing just the value of the respective masks).
As a result, a damage amounting to 2,380,000 lei was caused to the National Company Unifarm SA. At the same time, the beneficiary of the contract obtained an undue benefit in the same amount.
Apart from the previously mentioned facts, it is noteworthy that allegedly, on June 6th 2016, Ionel Eugen Adrian was appointed as the general director of the National Company Unifarm SA in violation of the legal provisions.
Concretely, during the meeting organized on the same date, in his capacity as a member and chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Company Unifarm SA, he allegedly voted in favour of his appointment as general director of the National Company Unifarm SA.
Yet, the provisions of the Government Order no. 109/2011 on the corporate governance of public enterprises specifically prohibit the chairman of the board of directors from being appointed as a general director, an aspect ignored by the members of the board, among whom, Ionel Eugen Adrian. On the same day, the defendant allegedly issued and signed a decision according to which, during July 14th, 2016 and May 25th, 2020, he would have received a net income amounting to 498,722 lei.
The National Company Unifarm SA brought a civil action in the criminal proceedings for the sum of 2,380,000 lei.
The prosecutors ordered in the case the seizing of all movable and immovable assets belonging to the two defendants.
The file was sent to trial to the Bucharest Tribunal, with the proposal of maintaining the preventive and ensuring measures ordered in the case.
Previously, the anticorruption prosecutors had concluded plea bargaining agreements with three defendants (the middleman and two representatives of the company that was the beneficiary of the contract), who had been charged with offences of traffic of influence and buying of influence.
In the presence of their chosen lawyers, the defendants expressly stated that they acknowledged having committed the offences, accepted the legal classification of the offences for which the criminal action had been launched and that they agreed with the manner and amount of the enforced punishment, as well as with the form of its execution thereof, respectively
- 3 years imprisonment with suspension of the execution, to a probation period of 4 years and the denial of the following rights for a period of 3 years since the conviction decision: to be elected in public authorities or in any other public offices, to occupy a position involving the exercise of state authority, to own, carry or use any category of weapons and to occupy a management position within a legal entity of public law.
The criminal investigation files regarding the three defendants along with the plea bargaining agreements have been sent to Bucharest Tribunal.
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 case to the court, for trial, a situation which cannot, under any circumstances infringe the principle of presumption of innocence.
It is worth mentioning that the present press release was drawn up according to article 28 paragraph 4 of the Guide of good practices regarding the relationship of the judicial system with the media, approved by the Decision no. 197/2019 of the Plenum of the Superior Council of Magistracy.
THE INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE