DNA asks Senate to start criminal proceedings against Senate President Tariceanu for bribe-taking
Chief-prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) sent to Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar a request to notify the Senate on drawing up a request for the initiation of criminal proceedings for bribe-taking against Senate President Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, judiciary sources said. According to the same sources, the accusation refers to the period when Tariceanu was member of the Government.
Senate President Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE, minor at rule) stated on Wednesday that the Government did not make any payment in the Microsoft licenses account during his term (2005-2008, ed. n.) as prime minister, specifying that he did not receive any official notification regarding the beginning of the prosecution in a National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) aimed at him.
"The Government decisions that were adopted at the time were intended to index the Microsoft licenses used in public institutions. I bring to mind that this contract was signed and enforced based on a Gov't Decision adopted in 2004," Tariceanu told a press release.
In his opinion, "we are witnessing another product of DNA case factory." "It is strange that, more than 10 years since my office ended and 3 years after my name firstly came up in this case, this issue is resumed, which I consider to be an extra reaction to my attitude towards combating abuses and excesses injustice. My actions obviously disturb those who have illegally seized power in the Romanian state. Considering the perjury case in which I have been acquitted, it seems that we are again witnessing another product of the DNA case FACTORY," added Tariceanu.
He further maintains that "in Romania which is preparing to assume the presidency of the Council of the European Union, these tactics can no longer function, not even the way they have been able to work so far."
"The truth about protocols and abuses has been revealed, and the legislative path of the amendments aimed at reforming justice and breaking the diseased connection with the services is irreversible. Romania can no longer go back to the times when President Basescu intervened to appoint certain prosecutors and pitted them against the political adversaries," Tariceanu wrote on Facebook.