INTELLIGENCE

Deputies’ Chamber adopted on Wednesday the law stipulating the declassification of the Decision no.17/2005 of the Supreme Council for National Defense (CSAT), and providing that the sentences in which “evidence” was administered “by special technical means” during the existence of the documents issued under the decision on which the law refers are subject to revision. The draft law was adopted with 174 pros, 92 cons and 4 abstentions. The Deputies’ Chamber is the decisional body in this case. During the plenary debates, the Opposition claimed that the ruling parties want to reopen certain cases; the deputies of the Liberal National Party (PNL), Save Romania Union (USR) and People’s Movement Party (PMP) were warned that Romania has become a police state, just as before 1989. “The father of the protocols is Tariceanu. In 2005, he signed as Prime Minister the Decision 231 regulating the national strategy for the fight against corruption, which was clearly establishing in the Annex 2, items 4 and 5, the obligation to conclude such protocols between the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ), and the other institutions involved in the fight against corruption, since it was appreciated that this is a matter of smooth collaboration between institutions, without meaning that this was in addition to the law. The lawfulness of some protocols is not decided in a party meeting, but only by a judge. You are planning to reopen all the cases since 2005 until the entry into force of this law”, stated the USR MP Stelian Ion in the plenary session. He added that USR will challenge the law to CCR if it will be adopted. PNL MP Gabriel Andronache said the Liberals will oppose to the draft law, and PMP MP Marius Pascan also stated that his party will not vote for the law. In reply, UDMR MP Marton Arpad said he is back in the same police system of which he hoped he will get rid in 1989, with illegal interceptions and with the interference of the secret services in judiciary. “I have lived for 35 years in a police state, in which the Securitate was listening everybody, and the Securitate guys were picking you up and judges were condemning you as those guys wanted. On the morning of December 22, 1989, around 9.00 AM, when I got out in the street, I got out hoping we’ll have a different kind of state. But I slowly realized that I am back in the same system of which I was hoping to get rid. It’s much sadder that there are young people in this country who think that this way of acting of the secret services that are judging instead of judges, who are illegally listening everybody, while judiciary is acting based on protocols, is normal. We do not agree with such a system, because this is not justice, from our point of view”, he stated. PSD MP Mircea Draghici, one of the initiators of the draft law, asked the Opposition why they are afraid of declassifying the protocols. “The protocols added to the law, that’s why we are declassifying them, to see their content. Remember the history report mentioning over 300 joint operative teams that worked to do justice? Why are you afraid to see these protocols? Why do you fear? Let’s see them! No one, not an issuer made any step to declassify them. What should we, the Parliament, do? Should we be indifferent to the political police, while 500,000 citizens were affected?”, Draghici stated in the plenary session. The deputy of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), Marian Cucsa, also claimed the large number of interceptions. “I wouldn’t like to tell to my children about the practices of these times, we are the country in which 6 million people are listened”, he said. The draft law on the declassification of certain documents provides the possibility of those who consider themselves prejudiced by the consequences of the documents concluded according to the CSAT Decision no.17/2005 to address to the competent courts, in order to establish that their fundamental rights and freedoms have been violated and to repair the suffered prejudice. “Art.1 – (1) By way of derogation from the provisions of Art.24 of the Law no.182/20902 on the protection of the classified information, as subsequently amended and supplemented, the Decision no.17/2005 of the Supreme Council of National Defense on the fight against corruption, fraud and money laundering is declassified, together with all the documents containing classified information relied upon or concluded according with or based on the Decision no.17/2005 of the Supreme Council of National Defense on the fight against corruption, fraud and money laundering”, the law provides. “The law also states that starting with the date of its entry into force, all these documents “are declassified by the law, without being required any other procedure”, and “the legal consequences of these documents cease”. Furthermore, all the information included in these documents becomes information of public interest starting on the date of the entry into force of the law. Also, the law provides the declassification, starting on the date of its entry into force, of all the cooperation plans made by the National Anticorruption Directorate and the Romanian Intelligence Service according to Art.15 from the Cooperation Protocol no.003064 since February 4, 2009, concluded between the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the Romanian Intelligence Service in order to accomplish their duties in the national security field, as well as of all the protocols and/or  collaboration and cooperation agreements concluded between the institutions of the Romanian state, the Romanian Intelligence Service, the National Anticorruption Directorate, the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, the Superior Council of Magistracy, and the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. “People who consider themselves prejudiced, in any legitimate right or interest, by the consequences caused by the documents mentioned in Art.1, have the possibility to…

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On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court postponed its debates on the House Speaker’s notification regarding a conflict of a constitutional nature between Parliament and the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice (PICCJ) generated by the latter’s conclusion of a secret protocol with the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) in 2016. The concerned parties had until October 22 to send their points of view to the Court. A new meeting will focus on this topic on November 28. The notification was lodged with the Constitutional Court on October 8, being signed by House Deputy Speaker Florin Iordache, to whom House Speaker Liviu Dragnea had delegated his prerogatives on the same day. On August 24, Darius Valcov, aide to Premier Viorica Dancila, published on his Facebook page a protocol that the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice (PICCJ) and the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) had signed on 7 December 2016. The day after, Justice Minister Tudorel Toader announced on Facebook the start of the legal procedure to evaluate the managerial activity of Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar. In response, the Prosecutor General stated that the protocols are a false topic and all aspects of interest concerning this topic were brought to the knowledge of the Superior Council of the Magistracy and the Justice Ministry. On September 25, House lawmaker Florin Iordache (PSD) stated that the protocols that the PICCJ concluded with the SRI are inadmissible, and Parliament is very clearly thinking of notifying the CCR about a juridical conflict of a constitutional nature. “By signing these protocols, the Prosecutor General added to the Criminal Procedure Code and transformed the SRI into a criminal prosecution body. We are analysing whether this is a constitutional conflict and whether it is necessary to notify the Constitutional Court,” Florin Iordache was stating. On Monday, the Romania Initiative civic movement notified the PICCJ about a possible criminal conflict of interest in the case concerning House Speaker Liviu Dragnea’s decision to delegate his prerogatives to Florin Iordache and the latter’s notification lodged with the Constitutional Court regarding the existence of protocols of collaboration between the prosecutor’s offices and the SRI, which, according to the organisation, could be used as a pretext to revise court sentences or to eliminate evidence from criminal dossiers.

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Rise Project announced on Saturday evening, through a Facebook post entitled ##Teleormanleaks, that a suitcase with key information from inside the Tel Drum corporation, to which the prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) had no access during searches, was found in the rural area of the Teleorman County. The suitcase allegedly contains thousands of documents, phone numbers, e-mails, photos and videos from the company’s events. “We inform you that «Teleorman Leaks» exists. A suitcase with key information from inside the Tel Drum corporation, to which the DNA prosecutors had no access when they made searches on the company’s premises and computers, last year, was found in the rural area of the Teleorman County, by a local, right on his property. The local contacted a Rise Project source in the county” is the message posted by Rise Project on Sunday evening on their Facebook page, entitled #Teleormanleaks. According to the Facebook message, the suitcase allegedly contains “a black hard disk in which all the 63.39 GB content from a key person from Tel Drum was saved”, as well as thousands of invoices, contracts, balance sheets, estimates, proxies, articles of incorporation of ghost companies, statements of account, payment orders. Moreover, the suitcase seems to contain “personal documents of intermediaries”, audit reports, accounting tables, 14,800 photos and videos from the company’s events, documents, selfies, screenshots with talks – most of them from the backup of several phone devices. Also, according to Rise Project, the suitcase contains 54,710 e-mails and attachments from the office e-mail address, as well as an agenda with almost one thousand phone numbers. “The agenda contains 980 phone numbers collected in the recent years: «Basescu», «Hrebe», «Dancila», «Banicioiu», «Pieleanu». One of them is different, being written with a pause between capital letters:  «L I V I U»”, reads the message posted by Rise Project. Besides, there are copies in the suitcase of some personal documents of the Dragnea family; Rise Project published a copy of the Baccalaureate Diploma belonging to Dragnea N.L. Valentin Stefan. In November 2017, Liviu Dragnea was indicted in the Tel Drum case, for forming an organized criminal group, for using or presenting in bad faith false, inaccurate or uncomplete documents or statements, as well as for abuse of office and obtaining undue benefits for himself or for another person. According to prosecutors, Liviu Dragnea, in his capacity of the Chairman of the Teleorman County Council, formed an organized criminal group which is acting even today, which consisted and still consists of public servants working in the institutions of the public administration, as well as people in the business sector. The group was initiated in 2001 and its goal was to fraudulently obtain important amounts of money from the contracts funded from public funds, by committing offenses of abuse of office, by defrauding EU funds, by tax evasion, money laundering and using information not intended to be published or by granting access to such information to unauthorized people, the DNA prosecutors claim. The damage caused by abuse of office in this case amounts RON 30 million, and the damage caused by defrauding the EU funds amounts RON 20 million. DNA also announced that the assets of the PSD Chairman Liviu Dragnea were subject to a precautionary seizure and a garnishment, up to the amount of more than RON 127.5 million, in the Tel Drum case. Thus, the DNA prosecutors ordered the precautionary seizure and garnishment up to the amount of RON 127,547,366.34 on all of the PSD Chairman Liviu Dragnea’s movable and immovable assets, stocks and shares he holds in the capital of the private legal persons, on his amounts of money in the bank accounts, as well as on the amount of money   owed to him with any title by third parties, including the amounts of money owed as rent. Liviu Dragnea challenged this measure also at the end of the last year, but the court rejected his request. The lawyer of the PSD leader, Maria Vasii, claimed that no institution requested to be introduced as a civil party in this case, and therefore, since no one claimed any damage, the prosecutor wasn’t entitled to order precautionary measures. “We challenged the ordinance by which the precautionary measures were established, since it was issued by the prosecutor by not observing some essential forms required b the law. For instance, the precautionary measure was justified by Mrs. Prosecutor by the need to seize the necessary assets for covering the damages, the prejudice. No one asked to be introduced in the case as civil party, therefore no one claimed any damage until today. The prosecutor is not entitled to establish the seizure ex officio, in the absence of a civil party that claims these damages”, Lawyer Maria Vasii stated. Furthermore, she said that the seizure was established “by ear”, since the PSD Chairman’s assets weren’t evaluated. On January 17, 2018, DNA announced it ordered precautionary measures on all the Tel Drum’s movable and immovable assets, as well as the garnishment on the existing amounts of money or those to be paid by third parties, with ay title, in the bank accounts held by the company, up to the amount of RON 32,118,589.51 (representing the undue benefits and the tax liabilities that should have been paid to the state). On the same date, DNA announced the extension of the criminal prosecution on the company, which is investigated for forming an organized criminal group, for tax evasion in continuous form and for complicity in abuse of office.   Reactions to TeleormanLeaks   Dragnea, about the suitcase with documents about which Rise Project wrote: It’s a donut, it has nothing to do with me, I ‘m not interested in it   On Monday, PSD Chairman Liviu Dragnea came with two suitcases at the PSD Executive Committee (CEx) meeting – saying that one of them was containing “donuts from Rise Project” (e.n. – donut = lie), and the other one was containing “files” about the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDRG)…

The post Rise Project announces the existence of “Teleorman Leaks”. A suitcase with key information from inside the Tel Drum corporation was found in the rural area of the Teleorman County; the suitcase seems to contain documents, phone numbers, e-mails, photos and videos. Reactions appeared first on Nine O' Clock.

Rise Project announced on Saturday evening, through a Facebook post entitled ##Teleormanleaks, that a suitcase with key information from inside the Tel Drum corporation, to which the prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) had no access during searches, was found in the rural area of the Teleorman County. The suitcase allegedly contains thousands of documents, phone numbers, e-mails, photos and videos from the company’s events. “We inform you that «Teleorman Leaks» exists. A suitcase with key information from inside the Tel Drum corporation, to which the DNA prosecutors had no access when they made searches on the company’s premises and computers, last year, was found in the rural area of the Teleorman County, by a local, right on his property. The local contacted a Rise Project source in the county” is the message posted by Rise Project on Sunday evening on their Facebook page, entitled #Teleormanleaks. According to the Facebook message, the suitcase allegedly contains “a black hard disk in which all the 63.39 GB content from a key person from Tel Drum was saved”, as well as thousands of invoices, contracts, balance sheets, estimates, proxies, articles of incorporation of ghost companies, statements of account, payment orders. Moreover, the suitcase seems to contain “personal documents of intermediaries”, audit reports, accounting tables, 14,800 photos and videos from the company’s events, documents, selfies, screenshots with talks – most of them from the backup of several phone devices. Also, according to Rise Project, the suitcase contains 54,710 e-mails and attachments from the office e-mail address, as well as an agenda with almost one thousand phone numbers. “The agenda contains 980 phone numbers collected in the recent years: «Basescu», «Hrebe», «Dancila», «Banicioiu», «Pieleanu». One of them is different, being written with a pause between capital letters:  «L I V I U»”, reads the message posted by Rise Project. Besides, there are copies in the suitcase of some personal documents of the Dragnea family; Rise Project published a copy of the Baccalaureate Diploma belonging to Dragnea N.L. Valentin Stefan. In November 2017, Liviu Dragnea was indicted in the Tel Drum case, for forming an organized criminal group, for using or presenting in bad faith false, inaccurate or uncomplete documents or statements, as well as for abuse of office and obtaining undue benefits for himself or for another person. According to prosecutors, Liviu Dragnea, in his capacity of the Chairman of the Teleorman County Council, formed an organized criminal group which is acting even today, which consisted and still consists of public servants working in the institutions of the public administration, as well as people in the business sector. The group was initiated in 2001 and its goal was to fraudulently obtain important amounts of money from the contracts funded from public funds, by committing offenses of abuse of office, by defrauding EU funds, by tax evasion, money laundering and using information not intended to be published or by granting access to such information to unauthorized people, the DNA prosecutors claim. The damage caused by abuse of office in this case amounts RON 30 million, and the damage caused by defrauding the EU funds amounts RON 20 million. DNA also announced that the assets of the PSD Chairman Liviu Dragnea were subject to a precautionary seizure and a garnishment, up to the amount of more than RON 127.5 million, in the Tel Drum case. Thus, the DNA prosecutors ordered the precautionary seizure and garnishment up to the amount of RON 127,547,366.34 on all of the PSD Chairman Liviu Dragnea’s movable and immovable assets, stocks and shares he holds in the capital of the private legal persons, on his amounts of money in the bank accounts, as well as on the amount of money   owed to him with any title by third parties, including the amounts of money owed as rent. Liviu Dragnea challenged this measure also at the end of the last year, but the court rejected his request. The lawyer of the PSD leader, Maria Vasii, claimed that no institution requested to be introduced as a civil party in this case, and therefore, since no one claimed any damage, the prosecutor wasn’t entitled to order precautionary measures. “We challenged the ordinance by which the precautionary measures were established, since it was issued by the prosecutor by not observing some essential forms required b the law. For instance, the precautionary measure was justified by Mrs. Prosecutor by the need to seize the necessary assets for covering the damages, the prejudice. No one asked to be introduced in the case as civil party, therefore no one claimed any damage until today. The prosecutor is not entitled to establish the seizure ex officio, in the absence of a civil party that claims these damages”, Lawyer Maria Vasii stated. Furthermore, she said that the seizure was established “by ear”, since the PSD Chairman’s assets weren’t evaluated. On January 17, 2018, DNA announced it ordered precautionary measures on all the Tel Drum’s movable and immovable assets, as well as the garnishment on the existing amounts of money or those to be paid by third parties, with ay title, in the bank accounts held by the company, up to the amount of RON 32,118,589.51 (representing the undue benefits and the tax liabilities that should have been paid to the state). On the same date, DNA announced the extension of the criminal prosecution on the company, which is investigated for forming an organized criminal group, for tax evasion in continuous form and for complicity in abuse of office.   Reactions to TeleormanLeaks   Dragnea, about the suitcase with documents about which Rise Project wrote: It’s a donut, it has nothing to do with me, I ‘m not interested in it   On Monday, PSD Chairman Liviu Dragnea came with two suitcases at the PSD Executive Committee (CEx) meeting – saying that one of them was containing “donuts from Rise Project” (e.n. – donut = lie), and the other one was containing “files” about the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDRG)…

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) leader Calin Popescu Tariceanu stated on Friday that the Prosecutor General is capable of anything to save his skin and claimed that Government Decision (GD) no.231/2005, adopted by the Government he led as Premier, did not concern protocols but the enforcement of the national anticorruption strategy. Tariceanu accused Augustin Lazar of “trying to justify his actions typical of a communist prosecutor.” “The Prosecutor General is lying to save his own skin. I notice that the Prosecutor General is capable of anything to save his own skin, even of publicly lying. The communique issued by the Prosecutor General’s Office represents only a personal interpretation of the Government Decision adopted in 2005. GD no.231 does not concern protocols but the enforcement of the national anticorruption strategy. The strategy was listing a series of principles based on the observance of the rule of law, of the laws in force and of individual rights and freedoms. GD no.231 certainly did not establish the conclusion of secret protocols such as those that the services and judicial system institutions have concluded in the last 10 years or the one that Augustin Lazar signed with the SRI in 2016,” Tariceanu said. He claimed that “what Augustin Lazar is doing is cheap manipulation to save his own skin, by shifting the blame.” “The truth must be said: the protocols signed and revealed this year contained measures that were not stipulated in any law. The secret protocols added to the legislation in force via the simple agreement between the chief prosecutors and the heads of services. Where does GD no.231 talk about mixed teams? What paragraph of the GD says that the information in the dossier must not be made available to the defendant? The role of judiciary police was established through a deal between the prosecutors and the services, not via the GD. The prosecutors lodging reports with the services within a 60-day deadline is an invention of the brilliant minds who signed the protocols,” the ALDE leader wrote on Facebook. Tariceanu accuses that “Augustin Lazar is trying, through communiques such as the one issued by the Prosecutor’s Office, to justify his actions typical of a communist prosecutor.” “The practices and methods that are specific to the communist period are not found in the GD. They were added subsequently by transient leaders of judicial system institutions and by the intelligence services,” Tariceanu went on to point out. “If Augustin Lazar considers that through manipulation he saves his skin and can avoid giving explanations for his activity, he is sorely mistaken. The Prosecutor General is lying only to shift attention away from the accusations levelled against him,” the ALDE leader added. Tariceanu’s statements come against the backdrop in which the Prosecutor’s Office announced on Friday that Government Decision no.231, dated 30 March 2005 and approving the National Anticorruption Strategy for 2005-2007 and the Action Plan to implement this strategy, stood at the basis of the protocols concluded with the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI). The representatives of the institution led by Augustin Lazar added that the Action Plan “unequivocally” establishes – as incumbent upon the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, National Anticorruption Directorate, Finance Ministry, Justice Ministry and Interior Ministry – the conclusion of protocols establishing the procedures for communicating with the Supreme Defence Council, Romanian Intelligence Service, Foreign Intelligence Service and other intelligence bodies. The strategy was approved via Government Decision 231, dated 30 March 2005, when the Executive was led by Calin Popescu Tariceanu. On Wednesday, Justice Minister Tudorel Toader triggered the procedure to have Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar dismissed from office, criticism concerning the protocols that the Prosecutor’s Office concluded with the SRI and the hiding of the truth concerning these documents being among the 20 points of the evaluation report.   Dragnea: A Government Decision does not mean a legal basis, GDs being “below the law”   PSD President Liviu Dragnea stated on Friday, referring to the Prosecutor General’s statement that the protocols with the SRI were concluded based on a Government decision adopted in March 2005, that a Government Decision does not mean a legal basis, GDs being “below the law.” “No, I didn’t know about it (about Government Decision dated 30 March 2005, on the protocols – editor’s note). I don’t see what I should comment. If it’s a Government Decision, this doesn’t mean a legal basis, a Government Decision is below the law and, at any rate, it doesn’t influence in any way the abuses that have taken place in Romania because of the protocols,” Liviu Dragnea stated.   ALDE Vice President accuses Lazar of lying: He believes that he saves his office this way   ALDE Vice President Marian Cucsa has stated that Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar wants to save his office by lying about the Government Decision, and that he must be held accountable for the protocol signed with the SRI, against the backdrop of a CCR decision stipulating that the SRI cannot get involved in criminal probes. “The Prosecutor General proves that ridiculousness no longer matters when it comes to saving his skin. Augustin Lazar hopes that through manipulation he can justify the fact that he kept under wraps the secret protocols that the Prosecutor General’s Office concluded with the intelligence service, but especially his own protocol with the SRI. He considers that by lying he will manage to shift the blame for the signing of illegal protocols. What the Prosecutor General forgets when talking about GD no.231/2005 is that this decision does not mention secret protocols, protocols that would add to the law, that would make the SRI a criminal prosecution body. If we analyse carefully, we will see that the GD only enunciates a series of principles on which the fight against corruption is based, including the rule of law or defending the rights and freedoms of citizens. It certainly does not talk about secret protocols in the form adopted by the Prosecutor General’s Office and…

Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) Spokesman Ovidiu Marincea claims that the Service does not own covert companies, pointing out that “the time will come when all those who are senselessly tossing unproven accusations in the public space will be forced to present the evidence.” “I’m looking at ex-officer Daniel Dragomir on B1TV and at what he […]

The Oversight Committee for the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) has drafted and launched in public debate a legislative proposal amending and supplementing the Law no.535/2004 on preventing and combating terrorism, in which the concept of terrorism is updated and the provisions related to this field are supplemented. The legislative proposal is assumed by the parliamentarians […]

Claudiu Manda (photo), Chairman of the Committee for the Oversight of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), stated on Tuesday evening, after the committee heard former SRI employee Daniel Dragomir, that the latter offered the committee details on the way “things were working” in 2009-2013. According to Manda, Dragomir said a former Lower House Speaker benefitted […]

Florian Coldea, former Deputy Director of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), gave a reply to Colonel Daniel Dragomir, his former Deputy, claiming that most of Dragomir’s public statements are lies and orchestrated attacks.   Dragomir accuses. Coldea responds   “I consider that at this moment there are domestic and external forces that would like Romanian […]

The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) on Friday informed that that there are no cases in which it conducted operative monitoring of pending criminal cases. According to a press statement released by SRI, these clarifications are made in response to media requests of late. “This position comes as a result of the openness of the Service […]