(Initially published in http://www.romania-report.ro/ - Jun 23, 2005)
Former PM Adrian Nastase (Social-Democrat, now the Lower Chamber Speaker) and state secretary Toma Zaharia allegedly pushed negotiations and signing of the dubious contract regarding state border security between Romanian Interior Ministry and EADS Germany, 'Averea' daily reads.
This assumption together with many other illegal actions resulted from an investigation performed by the control body of the Romanian Administration and Interior Ministry (MAI) – which filed a complaint to the General Prosecutor.
'Averea' also reads that, in the past 6 months, the Anti-corruption and Intelligence Directorate with the MAI (under the command of Virgil Ardelean) didn't do anything in the matter, even if it should have informed the general Prosecutor and the Anti-corruption National Prosecutor.
The questionable provisions of the 'EADS deal' were put under scrutiny by the new Interior Minister, Vasile Blaga, as soon as he took office earlier this year. Blaga appointed a special commission to investigate the conditions under which the former Social-Democrat administration negotiated and closed the deal worth around €1 billion with the German arm of EADS.
Following a several month investigation, the final 730 pages report stated that generals Toma Zaharia, Gheorge Carp, Anton Gagiu, Mihai Badescu and Mihai Tatut were involved in illegal activities.
Beyond technical issues, the commission also concluded that the contract's negotiation process and the signing procedure were performed under political pressure. Many of the Romanian experts involved in negotiating with EADS stated, in front of the investigation commission, that each time they had objections regarding some issues that were in favour of EADS they have been warned that PM Nastase and general Zaharia "are watching them."
More than that, MAI officers received messages that (the then) PM Nastase does not tolerate any drawbacks from schedule because otherwise they will have to suffer.
On another hand, some members of the negotiation commission have been replaced because they had raised various objections.
The investigations show that on July 14, 2004 procedures meant to provide the offers selection were initiated, and general Anton Gagiu was appointed as project manager. In absence of any technical assessment Gagiu "chose" four offers, coming from Thales, Finmecanica, EADS and IBCOL.
On July 15, lacking in any technical rationale, General Gagiu files a report (approved by Mihai Badescu, Nicolae Chesnoiu, Gheorghe Carp and Toma Zaharia) according to which the contract is awarded to EADS Germany.
The report was not approved by the IT, Logistics Management and European integration directorates. Instead, the report was not approved by the IT, Logistics Management and European Integration directorates. Following this procedure, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of European Integration and the Ministry of Justice provide their approval respectively. On July 23 - 2004, PM Nastase swiftly issues the Govt. Decision 1157/2004, officially awarding the contract to EADS. The suspect speed of the whole process is underlined by the fact that the Legislative Council's approval of was released as late as on July 26 - 2004.
Awarding the contract to EADS was performed even before the EADS offer was open – i.e. on August 4, the date EADS had filed the offer acceptance. In order to close the 'EADS deal' (supposed to be financed with €650 million from public money and €200 million from PHARE programmes) officials of the former Romanian Govt had to swindle EU bodies.
Therefore, on September 1 - 2004, EC asked Romanian officials to confirm that there is no overlapping between 'EADS deal' and PHARE financed programmes and that the financing process will not involve EU money.
It is worth mentioning that EADS competition also contacted EC for additional elements regarding the observance of EU rules in this case. On September 2, Interior Minister (Marian Saniuta) and Finance Minister (Nicolae Tanasescu) signed an answer letter to EC stating that there is no overlapping with EU programmes and that EDAS contract was not to be financed with EU money.
Following the Blaga commission investigations it appeared that PHARE 2003 and 2004 programmes include some €60 million procurement to overlap with EADS contract.
Another illegal issue addresses the offset framework. According to the contract, EADS had to close a framework accord regarding the offset, in less than 60 days. In the very day of signing the EADS contract Romanian authorities did not even have the Offset Agency in place – as the law stipulated. The Offset Agency was registered in September 2004, but EADS failed up to now to close an offset accord regarding the border security project.
The MAI investigation commission also found out that the Romanian negotiation team did not include high ranking officers and high skilled experts. Meetings memos were missing and the translation was performed by EADS lawyers. All along negotiation process, Gheorghe Carp, Anton Gagiu and Toma Zaharia pressed that the contract to include all the provisions required by EADS. After signing, in mid September, Toma Zaharia did not approve any changes in the contract, even if Romanian specialists stressed striking errors within the document.
The investigation commission report reveals that a local firm – Midocar Consulting SRL – provide consultancy to EADS during negotiations with Romanian authorities. Members of the negotiation team were ordered to discuss the EADS contract in Midocar Consulting offices. This means negotiations were performed in EADS 'home' – as long as the multi-national group had not a Romania-based office. Previous to negotiations start off, Gheorghe Carp met EADS representatives, at Midocar Consulting offices, in order to settle the framework and schedule for negotiation steps, signing the commercial contract, the financing method, and coming into force of the contract.
As about Midocar Consulting SRL, it appears that the firm was registered in 2002, with 70% participation from mother-company Midocar SRL. Midocar SRL is an important operator on the local automotive market, performing many contracts in the public sector (MAI and an intelligence service included). The close links with the Ministry of Interior seemed to provide Midocar with the required qualification for consultancy services in the EADS deal.
General Prosecutor is to find out if the consultancy firm was possibly "recommended" by the Romanian negotiators in the EADS contract.
Romania Report - according to 'Averea' daily
No comments:
Post a Comment