IMPARȚIALITATE·INTEGRITATE·EFICIENȚĂ
September, 22th, 2017
No. 906/VIII/3
Press Release
In addition to the press release no. 716/VIII/3 from July 13th, 2017, in reaction to the requests drafted by the mass media representatives, the Information and Public Relations Office is authorised to communicate the following data:
The prosecutors within the National Anticorruption Directorate – the Section for Combating the Offences assimilated to the corruption offences ordered the extending of the criminal investigation against the following suspects:
SEVIL SHHAIDEH, acting as a state secretary within the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (M.D.R.A.P.), charged for the offence of abuse of office if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other.
IONELA STOIAN (formerly VASILE), director within M.D.R.A.P, charged for the offence of complicity to the abuse of office if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other.
GHEORGHIU MARIANA SANDA, acting as an assistant senior registering clerk within the Office of Land Registry and Real Estate Advertising Alexandria, charged for the offence of abuse of office if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other.
GUȘĂ RODICA, acting as an assistant - registering clerk within the Office of Land Registry and Real Estate Advertising Alexandria, charged for the offence of complicity to the abuse of office if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other.
DIACONU ALEXANDRINA ANDUȚA, acting as chief-registering clerk within the Office of Land Registry and Real Estate Advertising Teleorman, charged for the offence of complicity to the abuse of office if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other.
In the same file, according to the legal and constitutional provisions, the Chief Prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate, Mrs. Laura Codruța Kovesi transmitted to the General Prosecutor of Romania the written report of the case, in order to notify the Chamber of Deputies, in order to draft the request for the criminal investigation against PLUMB ROVANA, a deputy within the Romanian Parliament and former Minister of Environment and Climate Changes, charged with the offence of complicity to the abuse of office if the public official received an undue benefit for himself or other, while exercising the ministerial position.
From the ordinance drafted by the prosecutors included certain aspects creating the reasonable suspicion according to which:
In 2013, through the combined action of several persons holding public positions, parts of the Belina Island and the Pavel Channel (with a surface of 278.78 hectares and respectively 45 hectares), located in the minor riverbed of the Danube, were illegally transferred from the state property into the property of Teleorman County and the administration of the Teleorman County Council, for only a few days later to be illegally leased to a private company.
For the transfer of ownership, the Government Decision 943/2013, a document with individual character and the Government Decision 858/2013, a document with normative character, were adopted, in order to violate certain provisions from the following laws:
- The Romanian Constitution,
- The Law of waters 107/1996,
- Law 213/1998 regarding the goods found in public property,
- O.U.G. 107/2002 regarding the establishment of the National Administration "Romanian Waters"
- Law 115/1999 of ministerial responsibility
- Law 24/2000 regarding the norms of legislative technique.
Through the perpetration of these acts, the state patrimony was damaged and the interests of the "Romanian Waters" National Administration were damaged.
At the same time, notes were drafted in the land books of the two buildings (Belina Island and the Pavel channel) in violation of the provisions of the Civil Code in order to hide the owner of the rental right and in order to facilitate the adoption of the above mentioned government decisions.
In support of these efforts, decision-makers from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration, Teleorman Land Registry Office, Alexandria Land Registry Office, Romanian Waters Administration and Teleorman County Council served the interests of a private company, by violating the provisions provided by several laws.
Practically, being located in the minor riverbed of the Danube, the Belina Island and the Pavel Channel are part of the public domain of the state through the effect of the law and the Constitution, and therefore they could not be transferred into the ownership of any county council through a government decision, but by law alone.
Motivating through the development of the "Danube-Belina-Seaca" sports and leisure complex, on July 26th, 2013, the Teleorman County Council submitted to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MDRAP), a substantiation note regarding the passing of property from the state public property and the administration of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change - the National Administration "THE ROMANIAN WATERS", into the public property of Teleorman County and into the administration of the Teleorman County Council.
For the first draft of the government decision, two ministries involved in the approval, meaning the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Public Finances, drew the attention that the removal from the public domain of the state and the administration of the "Romanian Waters" of the two objectives can only be conducted by law, not through a government decision.
Under these circumstances, a need occurred for an effort to create the appearance that the Belina Island and the Pavel Branch would not be part of the assets belonging to the public domain of the state found in the administration of the "Romanian Waters", so that the transfer of the property right could be accomplished by the government decision.
Thus, in the Government meeting of November 6th, 2013, the Government Decision 858/2013, amending the classification codes of the Belina Island and Pavel Channel, in the sense that, on paper, their belonging to the river basin of the Danube was removed, thus creating the appearance that their transfer to the property and administration of the Teleorman County Council would no longer require the adoption of a law, but it was possible only by means of a government decision.
The method of adopting The Government Decision 858/2013, a normative act, deviated from the prescriptions of the legislative norms, including through the fact that the draft decision did not have the approval notes of the Ministry of Justice and of the Ministry of Public Finances at the moment of its adoption.
From the administered evidence, the reasonable suspicion resulted that Rovana Plumb, acting as the Minister of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, intentionally initiated and promoted the Government Decision 858/2013 (a procedure that lasted 17 hours only), in violation of the Government's procedure for drafting, notifying and presenting the drafts of normative acts.
On November 27th, 2013, as apparently the obstacles had been removed, the Government Decision 943/2013 was adopted, through which the Belina Island and the Pavel Channel were transferred from the public domain of the state and from the administration of the National Administration "ROMANIAN WATERS", into the public domain of Teleorman County and in the administration of the Teleorman County Council.
Through the method of adopting this government decision, the provisions of the Romanian Constitution, those of the Organic Law 213/1998, of the Law 107/1996 and O.U.G. 107/2002 were all violated, since the Belina Island and the Pavel Channel are part of the Danube's minor bed, so thus they could not be the object of a transfer of public property. Also, a number of provisions regulating the norms of legislative technique have been violated, a matter repeatedly raised by the Ministry of Public Finances and the Ministry of Justice in the period prior to the adoption of the decision.
The adoption of the governmental decision was possible given the circumstances in which, while acting as the Secretary of State within MDRAP, by signing it, the suspect Sevil Shhaideh fully absorbed the content of the substantiation note and of the draft government decision, and she also initiated and promoted the Government Decision 943/2013, through which the transmission of certain parts of the Belina Island and the Paul Brain buildings was approved, in aggravated violation of the legal provisions regulating the norms of legislative technique that did not allow such a transfer, a matter repeatedly notified by the Ministry of Public Finances and the Ministry of Justice.
In turn, the suspect Ionela Vasile Stoian, acting as a director within M.D.R.A.P. - the Legal Directorate, the Parliament Relations and International Relations, supported the illegal steps by not drafting reports regarding the remarks made by the two advisory ministries (the Ministry of Justice and the one of Public Finances), and she did not comply with the regulations regarding the approval circuit, and thus she contributed to creating a false representation to the above mentioned ministries regarding the already existing rental contacts.
It is worth mentioning that, prior to these attempts, certain surfaces from Belina Island and Pavel Channel had been rented through contracts to a private company.
In order to distract the attention of the central public administration from the interests of that certain private company regarding the Belina island and the Pavel channel, the need occurred to obtain clean land book extracts, in which the lease agreements between with the Romanian Waters Administration and this trading company should not have occurred.
Thus, motivating the correction of a material error, the suspects Gheorghiu Mariana Sandală, with the complicity of the suspects Gușa Rodica and Diaconu Alexandrina Anduța, in their capacity as registrars, in violation of the law, respectively of certain provisions of the Civil Code, acted in such a way that the notes regarding the concluding of rental contracts with that certain private company were removed.
The above-mentioned facts have led to the obtaining of a patrimonial gain by the Teleorman County Council, namely the property right and the right to administer a part of the Belina Island and the Pavel Channel.
At the same time, a damage to the Romanian State was caused, as well as an injury to the legitimate rights and interests of A.N.A.R. by depriving it of the right of administration of the two goods.
A relevant aspect is that, through the final form of the Government Decision 943/2013, the reference to "for the development of the Danube-Belina-Seaca touristic, sports and leidure Complex" was abandoned, which was the initial motivation invoked for passing the 2 objectives into the property of the Teleorman County Council.
Instead, a more general phrase appears, namely "for the rehabilitation and valorisation of the natural environment of the Danube - Belina - the Pavel channel area".
The suspects were informed about their criminal status and charges, in accordance to the provisions of art. 307 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
From the administered evidence, the reasonable suspicion occurred that Rovana Plumb, acting as the Minister of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, intentionally supported the perpetration of the criminal offense the suspect Sevil Shhaideh is charged for, respectively she initiated and promoted the Government Decision 858/2013 within 17 hours, during November 5th-6th 2013, in violation of the Government's procedure for the drafting, approval and presentation of the drafts of normative acts. The effects of this governmental decision aimed to create an appearance of legality for the passing of the Belina and Pavel Channel, through the draft Government Decision No. 943/2013, contrary to the issues raised repeatedly by the Ministry of Public Finances and the Ministry of Justice regarding the legal force of the normative act.
It should be mentioned that the conducting of the criminal action represents a stage of a criminal trial regulated by the Criminal Procedure Code, aiming to create the procedural framework for administrating the evidence, an activity which cannot, under any circumstances, infringe the principle of presumption of innocence.
THE INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE