Update: Ex-managers of Microsoft Romania, ex-Fujitsu Romania head, former Education minister prosecuted in the high-sounding Microsoft licenses file

Former head of Fujitsu Romania, Claudiu Florica, former general director of Microsoft Romania, Silviu Hotaran and former general manager of Microsoft Romania, Ovidiu Artopolescu have been prosecuted for complicity to abuse of office and placed un judicial control for 60 days in the Microsoft file II, meaning they are facing legal restrictions pending trial. The prejudice in this case have been set for almost USD 67 million.

Former Education minister Alexandru Athanasiu was prosecuted for abuse of office.

Anti-corruption prosecutors say that the Microsoft affair would have been masterminded by Claudiu Florica and that the politicians would have been bought to sign and carry on the contracts that affected the state budget.

“As representative of Fijitsu Siemens Computers GbmH, defedant Claudiu Florica, to give the apparent impression that his company was the only distributor of Microsoft products and to thus avoid a public auction, signed the joint offers by Fujitsu Siemens Computers – Microsoft Romania on October 2, 2003 and March 12, 2004. The two bids have been also signed by Silviu Hotaran and Ovidiu Artopolescu as representatives of Microsoft Romania. The two bids contained prices highly overrated compared to the discount sums that Microsoft was asking in fact,” says the DNA press release.

Anti-corruption prosecutors say that in April 2004 a commercial contract of renting IT Microsoft licenses was signed with Microsoft wanted to provide the Government with a special agreement to obtaint the licenses for Microsoft products at special governmental prices.

In fact, the discount of 47% offered by Microsoft would have been embezzled and the money has been directed to the payment of the commissions for defendants.

DNA claims that the IT licenses contract has been clinched for a price double to the real price asked by Microsoft, based on the false fact that Fujitsu Siemens Computers was the only distributor of Microsoft licenses in Romania, when in fact there were other five distributors at that time.

More precisely, Microsoft invoiced USD 26 M to Fujitsu Siemens Computers, representing the price of the discounted licenses, while Fujitsu Siemens Computers re-invoiced almost USD 55 M to the Romanian Government.

Former general director of Microsoft Romania, Silviu Hotaran has been heard on Monday at the National Anti-corruption Directorate main office in Bucharest. After leaving the hearings, he said that he had never given or taken bribe.

“I have always promoted values linked to morality and ethics, I have never given bribe, I haven’t ever taken bribe,” Hotaran said.

Judicial sources told Mediafax that the former general manager of Microsoft Romania has been charged in the “Microsoft” file by the anti-corruption prosecutors.

Former Education minister Alexandru Athanasiu was also heard at DNA in this case.

“Nobody said about me that I had ever touched one single euro. I have never taken bribe. There are people who haven’t taken bribe, even if it’s hard to believe it. We signed a memorandum with the Microsoft CEO in February 2004 for the digitalization development in schools, it was an exceptional programme, I regret it is now being muddy,” Athanasiu said.

Former head of Fujitsu company in Romania, businessman Claudiu Florica was also summoned for hearings in this file on Monday.

When leaving the DNA office, former minister Athanasiu sent Claudiu Florica a message through the journalists, who asked him if he had something to say to Florica.” I say God will ruin him, for it’s not normal that those who stole from the public money to mock at fools like me who have to explain now (…)”, Athanasiu stated.

The DNA chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi announced in early October that the anti-corruption prosecutors had conducted more than 60 home searches and seized several documents from more institutions in the “Microsoft” case that is currently investigated by the DNA.

Former ministers Şerban Mihăilescu, Ecaterina Andronescu, Valerian Vreme, Dan Nica, Daniel Funeriu, Alexandru Athanasiu, Mihai Tănăsescu, Adriana Ţicău and Gabriel Sandu, were investigated in this case in September 2014, with the Oks for their prosecution being obtained. The charges were abuse of office, money laundering, influence peddling and bribe taking related to assigning the contracts for the Microsoft licenses. In 2014 it was the first time that appeared the information that EUR 20 M would have been asked as bribe out in those EUR 54 M paid by the Government within the Microsoft licenses contracts in schools.

Anti-corruption prosecutors argue that the nine former ministers acted in bad faith when they determined the closing of the license contract in suspicious conditions for the state budget, enabling the possibility of embezzling a discount of about 47% given by Microsoft and implicitly allowing the payment of several commissions to the involved people,” DNA said.

The first agreement clinched between Microsoft and the Romanian Government was in the autumn of 2003 to buy 50,000 licenses for the computers in the central public administration, for lower prices.

At the same time, also on Monday, the DNA chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi notified the Chamber of Deputies to give its go-ahead for the prosecution against deputy Eugen Bejinariu, former minister coordinator of the Government General Secretariat (SGG) during 2003-2004. Bejinariu is charged with abuse of office in continued form in the Microsoft file II.

Kovesi asks for prosecution go-ahead against Eugen Bejinariu, former SGG head

Prosecutors say that Bejinariu, as head of the SGG, broke the procurement provisions and endorsed two government decisions approving the commercial contract between Government and Fujitsu Siemens Computers GmbH related to Microsoft licenses.

DNA explains that Eugen Bejinariu initiated and lobbied for the decision extending this contract.

The former Social Democrat SGG head is also charged with signing this contract while knowing that Fijitsu was not the only one distributor of Microsoft licenses in Romania.