site.btaRomania's National Anti-Corruption Directorate Investigates Influence Peddling Networks

Romania's anti-corruption prosecutor's office is investigating several influence networks that have "resolved" various issues, one of which was preparing to "free" former presidential candidate Calin Georgescu from a ban on leaving Romania, according to local media reports.

Last week, as part of a corruption case, more than 20 addresses in Bucharest and seven other Romanian counties were searched. According to the prosecutor's office, the influence network under investigation involves a member of the ruling coalition party, as well as reservists from the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) and the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE), the Agerpres news agency reports. The investigative journalism website G4Media claims that a key figure among those under investigation is Nicolae Iana, a reserve general in the SIE.

Did Iana's network plan to take Georgescu out of Romania?

According to Digi24 TV, citing judicial sources, the network coordinated by retired general Nicolae Iana had a plan to allow former presidential candidate Calin Georgescu to leave Romania, despite the judicial control measure imposed on him. Georgescu, who came first in the cancelled first round of last year's presidential elections, has been charged in several cases, including complicity in an attempt to change the constitutional order. Under the judicial control measure, he is not permitted to leave the country. Digi24 TV adds that since the spring of this year, Georgescu has been fictitiously employed by an Austrian company, enabling him to argue in court that he works in Vienna and therefore needs to leave the country. Georgescu "worked" for businessman Constantin Danut Hant's company in Vienna. Constantin and his Romanian partner, Silviu Ularu, are part of the network allegedly coordinated by Iana and are involved in the corruption case, in connection with which searches were carried out last week. Another key figure in this case is Fanel Bogos, one of the largest producers in Romania's poultry sector and a veterinarian and businessman. 

Digi 24 has quoted several wiretapped conversations which reveal the plans of the influence peddling network involving the former Romanian presidential candidate.

“Kosti hired Georgescu in Austria because they wouldn't let him leave the country otherwise. Now he's letting them know that, legally, they can't deny him the right to work. Kosti wrote a document got Georgescu saying that they are waiting for him to start work in Austria," Digi 24 reports, quoting a wiretapped conversation in which Silviu Ularu describes how Constantin Danut Hant is trying to get Kalin Georgescu bypass the ban on leaving the country. The same conversation, which was also intercepted by the prosecutor's office, reveals that Constantin Danut Hanz wanted to enter into a partnership with Georgescu in a financial consultancy firm.

According to Digi 24, Constantin Danut Hant's name appears on the official website of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that he received funding of RON 30,000 for the Romanian Diaspora Project in 2015. In 2016, Danut Hant was introduced at an event in Vienna as a businessman "known for his financial contributions to preserving Romanian culture, traditions and customs in Romanian communities in Austria", according to the television station. 

According to publicly available data, Constantin Danut Hant and Silviu Ularu are partners in several companies, including those in the Republic of Moldova.

Georgescu: I don't know them

In a Facebook post, Calin Georgescu declared that he had no contact with, or collaboration with, the individuals mentioned, nor any other professional or personal contact with them.

"I do not know them and have not participated in any of the situations described. Any statement suggesting such participation is unfounded. I will not make a scene out of a lie, but I will also not accept the dissemination of information that undermines the fundamental values I believe in and support: democracy, freedom, and human dignity," he wrote.

Chicken with salmonella and a solution to the problem

An investigation by the anti-corruption prosecutor's office indicates that a poultry farmer from Vaslui County, Fanel Bogos, turned to the same network of influence in order to remove the head of the local sanitary and veterinary safety directorate, Mihai Ponia, from office. According to judicial sources, Bogos owns several poultry farms in Vaslui where salmonella outbreaks were detected and he wanted the head of the control authority removed so that he could continue his operation unhindered. Ponia ordered the culling of 230,000 birds on Bogos's farms and rejected a compensation claim filed by the poultry farmer.

In a wiretapped conversation, the Vienna-based businessman Constantin Danut Hanz tells the poultry farmer, "The general has no power in that area. Everyone has their own area. Do you understand? There are many of us."

In order to solve the farmer's problems, Nicolae Iana's group pressured the head of the Vaslui sanitary-veterinary directorate, Mihai Ponia, to resign, threatening to fabricate a case against him in the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) "to teach him a lesson", writes Digi 24. In return for these “services”, the poultry farmer's company signed two consultancy contracts with a firm whose partners include Constantin Danut Hantz and Silviu Ularu.

Prosecutors from the DNA investigated how the group operated in detail. Its members had contacts in the National Tax Administration and obtained information about companies with various "problems". Then they contacted the companies' representatives and, in exchange for payment, offered them access to their influential contacts who could get their problems "fixed". According to judicial sources quoted by Digi 24, the amounts requested could reach up to EUR 500,000. The network also claimed that it had influence in the judicial system and could fabricate criminal cases, as well as ensure unfavourable publications in online media on the various cases it took on. Prosecutors overheard the general boasting that he could get the heads of prosecutor's offices fired, including the head of the DNA, Marius Voynagh.

The poultry farmer from Vaslui reached as high as PM Bolojan

Romanian media revealed that Fanel Bogos, the investigated poultry farmer from Vaslui, managed to reach Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan in his attempts to remove the head of the local veterinary directorate from office. Bogos first tried to resolve his problems at the local level, reaching the leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) in Vaslui, Mihai Barbu. In a conversation mentioned by Digi 24, Mihai Barbu told a close friend that Fanel Bogos, who has an annual turnover of EUR 90 million, had called him to discuss an important issue.

The television station notes that the local sanitary and veterinary safety directorate had discovered a number of irregularities on Fanel Bogos's farms, including birds with salmonella, which he insisted on continuing to sell. The businessman also wanted to receive RON 13 million (about EUR 2.6 million) in compensation from the state, but his request was denied. According to judicial sources, poultry farmer Bogos promised the local politician 80 chicken legs, 20 egg cartons, 3-4 kg of mature cheese, 10 kg of sheep's cheese, and milk.

Mihai Barbu, the leader of the PNL in Vaslui, is currently under investigation for using his influence to obtain money, goods or unlawful benefits for himself.

The meeting with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan took place on September 23, but, according to judicial sources cited by Digi 24, it also failed to produce the result sought by the poultry farmer. A conversation intercepted by the prosecutor's office reveals that the poultry farmer had paid EUR 1.5 million to secure the unsuccessful meeting.

To resolve the poultry farmer's problems, Nicolae Iana even contacted MEP Rares Bogdan from the National Liberal Party, according to sources from the prosecutor's office. The two met, and the MEP also contacted the head of the sanitary-veterinary directorate in Vaslui regarding the case of Fanel Bogos, but after the conversation, Rares Bogdan made it clear that the supervisory authority had acted correctly in the case of Bogos' farms.

Prosecutors overheard the general boasting that he could get the heads of prosecutor's offices fired, including the head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), Marius Voynagh. The network around reserve general Nicolae Iana claimed that it had influence in the judicial system and could fabricate criminal cases, as well as ensure unfavorable publications in online media on the various cases it took on.

More influence-trade networks

During their investigation into the poultry farmer case, anti-corruption prosecutors discovered that he had sought solutions to his problems through two other networks of influence. He contacted Laura Yusein, a former member of the Social Liberal Humanist Party, who assured him that she had connections in the Ministry of Agriculture and with the leadership of the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority. The poultry farmer paid an advance of EUR 200,000 to Premium Insurance Consulting - as part of a contract for EUR 300,000 - for the removal of the head of the veterinary directorate in Vaslui. Yusein visited the inspector and threatened to file complaints that would reach the European Public Prosecutor's Office. She is currently under investigation for extortion and influence peddling.

According to Romanian media reports, the other network that the poultry farmer resorted to involved former DNA prosecutor Vasile Doana. Doana and renowned psychology professor Mihai Anicei claimed to have connections in the Cotroceni presidential palace and in the government, particularly among members of the Social Democratic Party.

According to wiretapped conversations quoted by Digi 24, Anicei assured the farmer that he would arrange meetings for him at Cotroceni Palace and party headquarters, and that "no one would bother him" anymore. In turn, the poultry farmer would help the psychologist open a medicine factory.

Mihai Anicei introduced Fanel Bogos to Vasile Doana, a former DNA prosecutor, whom he described as "incredibly cheap" and "known to all prosecutors in Romania", according to judicial sources. Professor Anicei met with the director of the veterinary directorate in Vaslui, threatening not to inspect Bogos's farms and mentioning that he represented the Intelligence Service and was conducting investigations that could be jeopardized.

Mihai Anicei is currently being investigated for influence peddling, bribery and extortion, and former prosecutor Vasile Doana is being investigated for complicity in influence peddling.

The media recalls that, while serving as president of the College of Romanian Psychologists, Anicei was investigated for corruption. In 2017, the anti-corruption directorate brought him to trial for corruption and forgery. According to the indictment, the professor signed two contracts with himself and one with his wife as part of a project funded by the European Union and implemented by the National Agency for Employment in partnership with the College of Romanian Psychologists. The damage was estimated at over RON 300,000 (approximately EUR 59,000). The data and reports falsified by the professor claimed that he “worked” over 20 hours a day on the project, including Saturdays and Sundays. On one occasion, Anicei even claimed to have worked more hours than there are in a day. In 2020, a court ruled that the statute of limitations on the charges had expired, meaning he avoided prison, according to a report by Radio Free Europe.

Romanian media outlets have reported that a court remanded the poultry farmer, Fanel Bogos, in custody for 30 days on November 6 and placed three other individuals, including the leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) in Vaslui, Mihai Barbu, under judicial control in the same case. Journalist Catalin Antohe, who writes for the website cetateanul.net, has also been charged in connection with the case. He is accused of receiving around RON 12,000 (approximately EUR 2,300) from Fanel Bogos in exchange for writing unfavourable articles about Mihai Ponia, the head of the veterinary directorate in Vaslui.