The Microsoft 2 file brought to court

Two former managing directors of the Microsoft Company Romania and businessman Claudiu Florica have been placed under judicial control for aggravated conspiracy to abuse of office

Mihai Pelin, 22.11.2016, 13:31

Anti-corruption prosecutors in Bucharest are looking again into the famous Microsoft file. The prejudice in the Microsoft 2 case stands at 67 million dollars. Two former managing directors of the Microsoft Company Romania, Silviu Hotaran and Ovidiu Artopolescu have been placed under judicial control for aggravated conspiracy to abuse of office. Silviu Hotaran says he is not guilty.

Silviu Hotaran: “All my life Ive promoted values related to ethics and morality. I havent given any bribe, I havent taken any bribe, I dont have secret accounts.

Businessman Claudiu Florica, head of the Fujitsu Siemens Computer Company, allegedly misappropriated part of the money, along with two former ministers. Prosecutors consider him the key pillar of this story with a sad denouement.

Showing a great deal of persuasion, he allegedly succeeded in talking representatives of the famous Microsoft Company and government members into signing the bids currently incriminated by prosecutors. The Microsoft people guaranteed that Floricas company was the sole distributor of its products in Romania, although there were others too on the market at the time.

So, tenders for the rental of educational IT licenses was given up and the procurement was decided with specification under government resolution. The renting contract of educational IT licenses was concluded in 2004. At the time, Microsoft made it a point to conclude a special agreement with the Romanian government and generously offered a nearly 50% discount.

Actually, the discount was shared by those involved in that spectacular affair. Fujitsu Siemens Computers buys the renting Microsoft licenses and then sells them to the Romanian Government at an overrated price, as prosecutors claim. Apparently, eight former ministers are involved in that complex file. One of them, former education minister Alexandru Athanasiu has already been heard. He says he is not guilty.

Alexandru Athanasiu: “We received a number of 110,000 licenses for the computers in the Romanian school for free. Mr. Bejenariu gave them for free to the Government General Secretariate.

Deputy Eugen Bejenariu, former secretary general of the government over 2003-2004 is under investigation of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) in the same file. The DNA has requested the Chamber of Deputies of Romanias Parliament that it should endorse Eugen Bejenarius prosecution.

Coming back to Claudiu Florica, he was involved in the Microsoft 1 file too, but as a denouncer and he was exonerated. The former mayor of the northeastern town of Piatra Neamt, Gheorghe Stefan, former minister of communications, Gabriel Sandu and businessmen Dorin Cocos and Nicolae Dumitru have already been convicted in that case.